ROLLO 

Geneva 


ii 


Vto~'  nta  ' 

Science 

3 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00022092496 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA 


BY 

JACOB  ABBOTT 


CHICAGO 

W.  B.  CONKEY  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.  The  Fame  of  Geneva 5 

II.  Planning 16 

III.  The  Ride  to  Geneva 25 

IV.  The  Town 40 

V.  TheHotel 46 

Vt.  A  Ride  in  the  Environs 52 

VII.  The  Junction  of  the  Arve 71 

VIII.  Seeing  Mont  Blanc  go  Out 82 

IX.  A  Law  Question 94 

X.  An  Excursion  on  the  Lake 104 

XI.  Villeneuve 116 

XII.  The  Castle  of  Chillon 122 

XIII.  Plan  Formed 134 

XIV.  Walkto  Aigle... 141 

XV.  The  Jewelry 156 

XVI.  A  Fortunate  Accident 165 


fcrot 


3 


PRINCIPAL  PERSONS  OF  THE  STORY. 

Rollo:  twelve  years  of  age. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.    Holiday:  Rollo's  father  and  mother, 

traveling  in  Europe. 
Thanny:  Rollo's  younger  brother. 
Jane:  Rollo's  cousin,  adopted  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday. 
Mr.  George:  a  young  gentleman,  Rollo's  uncle, 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    FAME    OF    GENEVA. 

Geneva  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and 
most  celebrated  cities  in  Europe.  It  derives 
its  celebrity,  however,  not  so  much  from  its 
size,  or  from  the  magnificence  of  its  edifices, 
as  from  the  peculiar  beauty  of  its  situation,  and 
from  the  circumstances  of  its  history. 

Geneva  is  situated  upon  the  confines  of 
France,  Switzerland,  and  Sardinia,  at  the  out- 
let of  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  which  is  perhaps 
the  most  beautiful,  and  certainly  the  most  cele- 
brated, lake  in  Switzerland.  It  is  shaped  like 
a  crescent, — that  is,  like  the  new  moon,  or 
rather  like  the  moon  after  it  is  about  four  or 
five  days  old.  The  lower  end  of  the  lake — 
that  is,  the  end  where  Geneva  is  situated — lies 
in  a  comparatively  open  country,  though  vast 
ranges  of  lofty  mountains,  some  of  them  cov- 
ered with  perpetual  snow,  are  to  be  seen  in 
the  distance  all  around.  All  the  country  near, 
however,  at  this  end  of  the  lake,  is  gently  un- 
dulating, and  it  is  extremely  fertile  and  beauti- 
ful. There  are  a  great  many  elegant  country 
seats  along  the  shore  of  the  lake,  and  on  the 
5 


6  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

banks  of  the  River  Rhone,  which  flows  out  of 
it.  The  waters  of  the  lake  at  this  end,  and  of 
the  river  which  issues  from  it,  are  very  clear, 
and  of  a  deep  and  beautiful  blue  color.  This 
blue  color  is  so  remarkable  that  it  attracts  the 
attention  of  every  one  who  looks  down  into  it 
from  a  bridge  or  from  a  boat,  and  there  have 
been  a  great  many  suppositions  and  specula- 
tions made  in  respect  to  the  cause  of  it ;  but  I 
believe  that,  after  all,  nobody  has  yet  been 
able  to  find  out  what  the  cause  is. 

The  city  of  Geneva  is  situated  exactly  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  lake,  that  is,  at  the  western 
end;  and  the  River  Rhone,  in  coming  out  of 
the  lake,  flows  directly  through  the  town. 

The  lake  is  about  fifty  miles  long,  and  the 
eastern  end  of  it  runs  far  in  among  the  moun- 
tains. These  mountains  are  very  dark  and 
sombre,  and  their  sides  rise  so  precipitously 
from  the  margin  of  the  water  that  in  many 
places  there  is  scarcely  room  for  a  road  along 
the  shore.  Indeed,  you  go  generally  to  that 
end  of  the  lake  in  a  steamer;  and  as  you  ad- 
vance, the  mountains  seem  to  shut  you  in  com- 
pletely at  the  end  of  the  lake.  But  when  you 
get  near  to  the  end,  you  see  a  narrow  valley 
opening  before  you,  with  high  mountains  on 
either  hand,  and  the  River  Rhone  flowing  very 
swiftly  between  green  and  beautiful  banks 
in  the  middle  of  it.  Besides  the  river,  there 
is  a  magnificent  road  to  be  seen  running  along 
this  valley.  This  is  the  great  high  road  lead- 
ing  from  France  into  Italy ;  and  it  has  been 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  7 

known  and  traveled  as  such  ever  since  the 
days  of  the  old  Romans. 

The  River  Rhone,  where  it  flows  into  the 
lake  at  the  eastern  end  of  it,  is  very  thick  and 
turbid,  being  formed  from  torrents  coming 
down  the  mountain  sides,  or  from  muddy 
streams  derived  from  the  melting  of  the 
glaciers.  At  the  western  end,  on  the  other 
hand,  where  it  issues  from  the  lake,  the  water 
is  beautifully  pellucid  and  clear.  The  reason 
of  this  is,  that  during  its  slow  passage  through 
the  lake  it  has  had  time  to  settle.  The  impur- 
ities which  the  torrents  bring  down  into  it  from 
the  mountains  all  subside  to  the  bottom  of  the 
lake,  and  are  left  there,  and  thus  the  water 
comes  out  at  the  lower  end  quite  clear.  The 
lake  itself,  however,  is  of  course  gradually  fill- 
ing up  by  means  of  this  process. 

There  are  several  large  and  handsome  houses 
on  the  northern  shore  of  the  lake:  but  Ge- 
neva, at  the  western  end  of  it,  entirely  sur- 
passes them  all. 

Geneva  is,  however,  after  all,  a  compara- 
tively small  town.  It  contains  only  thirty  or 
forty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  would  take  ten 
Genevas  to  make  a  New  York,  and  nearly  a 
hundred  to  make  a  Paris  or  London. 

Why,  then,  since  Geneva  is  comparatively  so 
small,  is  it  so  celebrated?  Almost  every  per- 
son who  goes  to  Europe  visits  Geneva,  and 
talks  of  Geneva  when  he  comes  back;  while 
there  are  multitudes  of  other  cities  and  towns, 
many  times  as  large  in  extent  and  population, 
that  he  never  thinks  of  or  speaks  of  at  all. 


8  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

There  are  several  reasons  for  this. 

i.  The  first  reason  is,  that  this  town  stands 
on  the  great  high  road  leading  from  England 
and  France  into  Italy.  Of  course  it  comes 
naturally  in  the  way  of  all  travelers  making  the 
grand  tour.  It  is  true  that  at  the  present  day, 
since  steam  has  been  introduced  upon  the 
Mediterranean,  a  very  large  proportion  of 
travelers,  instead  of  passing  through  Switzer- 
land, go  down  the  Rhone  to  Marseilles,  and 
embark  there.  But  before  the  introduction 
of  steam,  for  many  ages,  the  way  by  Geneva 
was  almost  the  only  way  to  Italy;  and  the 
city  acquired  great  celebrity  through  the 
accounts  of  tourists  and  travelers  who  visited 
it  on  their  journeys. 

2.  The  second  reason  is,  that  Geneva  is  a 
convenient  and  agreeable  point  for  entering 
Switzerland,  and  for  making  excursions  among 
the  Alps.  There  are  two  great  avenues  into 
Switzerland  from  France  and  Germany — one 
by  way  of  Geneva,  and  the  other  by  way  of 
Basle.  By  the  way  of  Basle  we  go  to  the 
Jungfrau  and  the  Oberland  Alps  which  lie 
around  that  mountain,  and  to  the  beautiful 
lakes  of  Zurich  and  of  Lucerne.  All  these  lie 
in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Alpine  region.  By 
the  way  of  Geneva  we  go  to  the  valley  of 
Chamouni  and  Mont  Blanc,  and  visit  the  vast 
glaciers  and  the  stupendous  mountain  scenery 
that  lie  around  this  great  monarch  of  the  Alps. 

There  is  a  great  question  among  travelers 
which  of  these  two  Alpine  regions  is  the  most 
grand.     Some    prefer    the   mountains    about 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  .  9 

Mont  Blanc,  which  are  called  the  Alps  of 
Savoy.  Others  like  better  those  about  the 
Jungfrau,  which  are  called  the  Oberland  Alps. 
The  scenery  and  the  objects  of  interest  are 
very  different  in  the  two  localities;  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  any  difference  which  trav- 
elers may  observe  in  the  grandeur  of  the  emo- 
tions which  they  severally  produce  upon  the 
mind  must  be  due  to  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances or  moods  of  mind  in  which  they  are 
visited.  It  is  true  you  can  get  nearer  to  the 
Jungfrau  than  you  can  to  Mont  Blanc,  and  so 
can  obtain  a  more  impressive  view  of  his  icy 
and  rocky  sides  and  glittering  summit.  But 
then,  on  the  other  hand,  Mont  Blanc  is  really 
the  highest  peak,  and  is  looked  upon  as  the 
great  monarch  of  them  all. 

And  here,  as  the  name  of  Mont  Blanc  will 
of  course  often  appear  in  this  volume,  I  have 
a  word  or  two  to  say  in  respect  to  the  proper 
pronunciation  of  it  in  America ;  for  the  proper 
mode  of  pronouncing  the  name  of  any  place  is 
not  fixed,  as  many  persons  think,  but  varies 
with  the  language  which  you  are  using  in 
speaking  of  it.  Thus  the  name  of  the  capital 
of  France,  when  we  are  in  France,  and  speak- 
ing French,  is  pronounced  Par-ree ;  but  when 
we  are  in  England  and  America,  and  are 
speaking  English,  we  universally  pronounce  it 
Par-is.  It  is  so  with  almost  all  names  of 
places.  They  change  the  pronunciation,  and 
often  the  mode  of  spelling,  according  to  the 
analogy  of  the  language  used  by  the  person 
speaking  of  them. 


10  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

Many  persons  suppose  that  in  order  cor- 
rectly to  pronounce  the  name  of  any  place  we 
must  pronounce  it  as  the  people  do  who  live 
in  and  around  the  place.  But  this  is  not  so. 
The  rule,  on  the  other  hand,  is,  that  we  must 
pronounce  it  as  the  people  do  who  live  in  and 
around  the  place  the  language  of  which  we  are 
speaking.  Thus  the  people  of  France  call 
their  capital  Par-ree ;  those  of  Spain  call  theirs 
something  like  this, — Madhreedth;  the  Italians 
pronounce  theirs  Roma;  but  we,  in  talking 
English,  say  simply,  Paris,  Madrid,  and  Rome ; 
in  other  words,  when  we  are  talking  English, 
we  talk  English  throughout,  using  English 
words  for  names  of  things,  and  English  pro- 
nunciation for  names  of  places,  in  all  cases 
where  there  is  an  English  pronunciation  estab- 
lished,— as  there  is  in  respect  to  all  the  rivers, 
towns,  mountains,  and  other  localities  on  the 
globe  that  are  well  known  and  often  spoken 
of  in  the  English  world. 

Mont  Blanc  is  one  of  these.  Like  the  word 
Paris  it  has  its  French  pronunciation  for  the 
French,  and  its  English  pronunciation  for  the 
English ;  and  its  English  pronunciation  is  as 
if  it  were  spelled  Mount  Blank  or  Mont  Blank. 
Under  this  name  it  has  been  known  and  spoken 
of  familiarly  all  over  England  and  America 
for  centuries ;  and  this,  it  seems  to  me.  is  the 
proper  name  to  give  it  when  we  are  speaking 
English. 

Its  French  pronunciation  is  very  different. 
It  is  one  which  none  but  a  practical  French 
scholar  can  possibly  imitate,  except  in  a  very 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  11 

awkward  manner.  Those  who  have  visited 
France  and  Switzerland,  and  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  the  French  sound,  often  give  the 
word  the  French  pronunciation ;  but  it  is  not 
at  all  necessary  to  do  so.  The  word,  like 
Paris,  has  its  own  established  English  sound ; 
and  if  it  is  not  pedantry  to  attempt  to  give  it 
the  French  sound  when  speaking  English,  it 
certainly  is  not  a  mispronunciation  to  give  it 
the  English  one.  Indeed,  to  require  the 
French  pronunciation  of  the  word  from  Eng- 
lish speakers  would  be  in  effect  to  banish  it 
almost  altogether  from  conversation ;  for 
among  the  ten  millions,  more  or  less,  in  Eng- 
land or  America,  who  speak  English  well,  there 
is  probably  not  one  in  a  thousand  that  can 
possibly  give  the  word  its  true  French  pronun- 
ciation. 

In  reading  this  book,  therefore,  and  in 
speaking  of  the  great  Swiss  mountain,  you  are 
perfectly  safe  in  giving  it  its  plain  English 
sound,  as  if  it  were  written  Mont  Blank ;  and 
remember  the  principle,  as  applicable  to  all 
other  similar  cases.  Wherever  a  foreign  name 
has  become  so  familiar  to  the  English  world 
as  to  have  obtained  an  established  English 
pronunciation,  in  speaking  English  we  give  it 
that  pronunciation,  without  any  regard  to  the 
usage  of  the  people  who  live  on  the  spot. 

But  now  I  must  return  to  Geneva,  and  give 
some  further  account  of  the  reasons  why  it  has 
been  so  celebrated. 

3.  The  third  reason  why  Geneva  has  ac- 
quired  so  much  celebrity  among  mankind  is 


12  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

the  great  number  of  learned  and  distinguished 
philosophers  and  scholars  that  have  from  time 
to  time  lived  there.  Switzerland  is  a  republic, 
and  the  canton  of  Geneva  is  Protestant ;  and 
thus  the  place  has  served  as  a  sort  of  resort 
and  refuge  for  all  the  most  distinguished  foes 
both  of  spiritual  and  political  tyranny  that 
have  risen  up  in  Euorpe  at  intervals  during 
the  last  five  hundred  years.  Geneva  was  in- 
deed one  of  the  chief  centers  of  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  and  almost  all  the  great  reformers  visited 
it  and  wrote  about  it,  and  thus  made  all  the 
world  familiar  with  it,  during  the  exciting 
times  in  which  they  lived. 

Besides  this,  Geneva  has  been  made  the  res- 
idence and  home  of  a  great  many  moral  and 
political  writers  within  the  last  one  or  two  cen- 
turies; for  the  country,  being  republican,  is 
much  more  open  and  free  than  most  of  the 
other  countries  of  Europe.  Men  who  have 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  their  own  govern- 
ments, by  their  writings  or  their  acts  find  a 
safe  asylum  in  Geneva,  where  they  can  think 
and  say  what  they  please.  All  this  has  tended 
very  strongly  to  attract  the  attention  of  man- 
kind to  Geneva,  as  to  a  sort  of  luminous  point 
in  respect  to  moral  and  political  science,  from 
which  light  radiates  to  every  part  of  the  civil- 
ized world. 

4.  There  is  one  more  reason,  very  different 
from  the  preceding,  which  tends  to  make 
Geneva  famous,  and  to  draw  travelers  to  visit 
it  at  the  present  day ;  and  that  is,  it  is  a  great 
manufacturing  place  for  watches  and  jewelry 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  13 

— one  of  the  greatest,  indeed,  in  the  world. 
Travelers,  in  making  the  tour  of  Europe, — and 
American  travelers  in  particular, — always  wish 
to  bring  home  with  them  a  great  number  and 
variety  of  purchases ;  and  the  things  that  they 
buy  they  very  naturally  desire  to  buy  at  the 
places  where  they  are  made.  It  is  not  merely 
that  they  hope  to  get  them  better  and  cheaper 
there,  but  it  is  a  pleasant  thought  to  be  asso- 
ciated always  afterwards  with  any  object  of 
use  or  luxury  that  we  possess,  that  we  bought 
it  ourselves  at  the  place  of  its  original  manu- 
facture. Thus  the  gentlemen  who  travel  in 
Europe  like  to  bring  home  a  fowling-piece 
from  Birmingham,  a  telescope  from  London, 
or  a  painting  from  Italy;  and  the  ladies,  in 
planning  their  tour,  wish  it  to  include  Brussels 
or  Valenciennes  for  laces,  and  Geneva  for  a 
watch. 

Thus,  for  one  reason  or  another,  immense 
numbers  of  people  go  every  year  to  Geneva,  in 
the  course  of  the  tour  they  make  in  Europe, 
either  for  business  or  pleasure.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  number  of  these  visitors  annually  is 
not  less  than  thirty  thousand ;  and  the  chief 
streets  and  quays  of  the  town  are  marked 
almost  as  strikingly  by  the  conspicuousness  and 
splendor  of  the  hotels  as  Broadway  in  New 
York. 

The  place  of  departure  in  France  for  Geneva 
is  Lyons.  If  you  look  upon  the  map  you  will 
see  the  situation  of  Lyons  on  the  River  Rhone, 
almost  opposite  to  Geneva.  There  is  a  rail- 
road from  Paris  to  Lyons,  and  so  on  down  the 


14  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

Rhone  to  Marseilles.  But  from  Lyons  up  to 
Geneva — which  is  likewise  situated  on  the 
Rhone,  at  the  place  where  it  issues  from  the 
Lake  of  Geneva — there  was  no  railroad  at  the 
time  of  Rollo's  visit,  though  there  was  one  in 
the  process  of  construction.  The  party  were 
obliged  to  travel  by  diligence  on  that  part  of 
the  journey.  The  diligence  is  the  French  stage 
coach.  The  diligence  leaves  Lyons  in  the 
evening,  and  travels  all  night.  As  Mr.  Holi- 
day arrived  at  Lyons  the  evening  before,  Rollo 
had  the  whole  of  the  day  to  walk  about  the 
town  before  setting  out  for  his  evening  ride. 
His  father  gave  him  leave  to  go  out  alone,  and 
ramble  where  he  pleased. 

"The  most  curious- places,"  said  his  father, 
"are  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  where  the 
silk  weavers  live.  Notice  what  bridge  you  go 
over,  so  that  you  will  know  it  again,  and  then 
if  you  get  lost  on  the  other  side  it  will  be  no 
matter.  All  you  will  have  to  do  is  to  keep 
coming  down  hill  till  you  reach  the  river,  and 
then  look  up  and  down  till  you  see  the  bridge 
where  you  went  over.  That  will  bring  you 
home.  And  be  sure  to  be  at  home  by  five 
o'clock.  We  are  going  to  have  dinner  at  half- 
past  five." 

"Then  won't  it  be  in  season,"  asked  Rollo, 
"if  I  am  at  home  by  half-past  five?" 

"In  season  for  what?"  asked  his  father. 

"Why,  to  save  my  dinner,"  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father;  "it  might  be  in  sea- 
son to  save  your  dinner,  but  that  is  not  what  I 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  15 

am  planning  to  save.  I  have  no  particular 
uneasiness  about  your  dinner. ' ' 

"Why,  father!"  said  Rollo,  surprised. 

"I  have  no  wish  to  have  you  go  hungry, *.' 
replied  his  father;  "but  then  if  by  any  chance 
you  happened  to  be  late  at  dinner,  it  would  be 
of  no  great  consequence,  for  you  could  buy 
something,  and  eat  it  in  the  diligence  by  the 
way.  So  I  was  not  planning  to  save  your  din- 
ner. 

"Then  what  were  you  planning  to  save, 
father?"  asked  Rollo. 

"My  own  and  mother's  quiet  of  mind,"  re- 
plied Mr.  Holiday,  "especially  mother's.  If 
five  minutes  of  the  dinner  hour  were  to  come, 
and  you  should  not  appear,  she  would  begin 
to  be  uneasy;  and,  indeed,  so  should  I.  In 
such  cases  as  this,  children  ought  always  to 
come  before  the  time  when  their  parents  would 
begin  to  feel  any  uneasiness  respecting  them.  *  * 

Rollo  saw  at  once  the  correctness  of  this 
principle,  and  he  secretly  resolved  that  he 
would  be  at  home  a  quarter  before  five. 


16  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  II 

PLANNING. 

"What  part  of  the  diligence  are  we  going  to 
ride  in,  father?"  asked  Rollo,  as  they  were 
seated  at  dinner. 

"In  the  coupe,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

"Ah,  father!"  said  Rollo;  "I  wish  yois 
would  go  on  the  banquette.  We  can  see  so 
much  better  on  the  banquette.  - ' 

"It  would  be  rather  hard  climbing  for 
mother,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "to  get  up  to  the 
banquette — such  a  long  ladder." 

'  *  O,  mother  can  get  up  just  as  easily  as  not, ' ' 
said  Rollo.     "Couldn't  you,  mother?" 

"I  am  more  afraid  about  getting  down  than 
getting  up, ' '  said  his  mother. 

*  'But  it  is  a  great  deal  pleasanter  on  the  ban- 
quette, ' '  said  Rollo.  '  'They  keep  talking  all 
the  time — the  conductor,  and  the  drivers,  and 
the  other  passengers  that  are  there ;  while  in 
the  coupe  we  shall  be  all  by  ourselves.  Be- 
sides, it  is  so  much  cheaper.  J ' 

'  'It  is  cheaper,  I  know, ' '  said  Mr.  Holiday ; 
"but  then  as  to  the  talking,  I  think  we  shall 
want  to  be  quiet,  and  go  to  sleep  if  we  can. 
You  see  it  will  be  night. ' ' 

"Yes,  father,  that  is  true,"  said  Rollo,  "but 
I  had  rather  hear  them  talk.     I  can  understand 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  17 

almost  all  they  say.  And  then  I  like  to  see 
them  change  horses,  and  to  see  the  conductor 
climb  up  and  down.  Thea,  besides,  at  almost 
all  the  villages  they  have  parcels  to  leave  at  the 
inns ;  and  it  is  good  fun  to  see  them  take  the 
parcels  out  and  toss  them  down,  and  tell  the 
bar  maid  at  the  inn  what  she  is  to  do  with 
them." 

'  'All  that  must  be  very  amusing, ' '  said  Mr. 
Holiday;  "but  it  would  not  be  so  comfortable 
for  your  mother  to  mount  up  there.  Besides, 
I  have  engaged  our  places  already  in  the  coupe, 
and  paid  for  them. ' ' 

"Why,  father!"  said  Rollo.  "When  did  you 
do  it?" 

**I  sent  last  evening,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 
"It  is  necessary  to  engage  the  places  before- 
hand at  this  season.  There  is  so  much  travel- 
ing into  Switzerland  now  that  the  diligences 
are  all  full.  I  had  to  send  to  three  offices  be- 
fore I  could  get  places. ' ' 

"Are  there  three  offices?"  asked  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father;  "there  are  three 
different  lines." 

"But  I'll  tell  you  what  you  may  do,  Rollo, 
if  you  please,"  continued  his  father.  "You 
may  go  to  the  bureau,  and  see  if  you  can  ex- 
change your  seat  in  the  coupe  for  one  in  the 
banquette,  if  you  think  you  would  like  better 
to  ride  there.  There  may  be  some  passenger 
who  could  not  get  a  place  in  the  coupe,  on  ac- 
count of  my  having  taken  them  all,  and  who, 
consequently,  took  one  on  the  banquette,  and 

2    Geneva 


18  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

would  now  be  glad  to  exchange,  and  pay  the 
difference." 

"How  much  would  the  difference  be?"  asked 
Rollo. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  "five  or 
six  francs,  probably.  You  would  save  that 
sum  by  riding  on  the  banquette,  and  you  could 
have  it  to  buy  something  with  in  Geneva." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  joyfully,  "I  should 
like  that  plan  very  much. ' ' 

"But  do  you  think,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday, 
"that  you  know  French  enough  to  explain  it 
at  the  bureau,  and  make  the  change?" 

"O,  yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo;  kkI  have  no 
doubt  I  can." 

So  Rollo  said  he  would  finish  his  dinner  as 
soon  as  he  could,  and  go  off  at  once  to  the 
bureau. 

"There  is  one  other  condition,"  said  his 
father.  "If  I  let  you  ride  on  the  banquette, 
and  let  you  have  all  the  money  that  you  save 
for  your  own,  you  must  write  a  full  account  of 
your  night's  journey,  and  send  it  to  your  cousin 
Lucy." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  *'I  will." 

Rollo  left  the  dinner  table  while  his  father 
and  mother  were  taking  their  coffee.  The 
table  was  one  of  a  number  of  separate  tables 
arranged  along  by  the  windows  On  the  front 
side  of  a  quaint  and  queer-looking  dining  room 
— or  salle  a  manger,  as  they  call  it — in  one  of 
the  Lyons  inns.  Indeed,  the  whole  inn  was 
very  quaint  and  queer,  with  its  old  stone  stair- 
cases, and  long  corridors  leading  to  the  vari- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  19 

ous  apartments,  and  its  antique  ceiling, — re- 
minding one,  as  Mr.  Holiday  said,  of  the  inns 
we  read  of  in  Don  Quixote  and  other  ancient 
romances. 

Rollo  left  his  father  and  mother  at  this  table, 
taking  their  coffee,  and  sallied  forth  to  find  his 
way  to  the  bureau  of  the  diligence. 

"If  you  meet  with  any  difficulty,"  said  Mr. 
Holiday,  as  Rollo  went  away,  "engage  the  first 
cab  you  see,  and  the  cabman  will  take  you 
directly  there  for  a  franc  or  so. ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "I  will." 

"And  if  you  don't  find  any  cab  readily," 
continued  his  father,  "engage  a  commissioner 
to  go  with  you  and  show  you  the  way. ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

A  commissioner  is  a  sort  of  porter  who 
stands  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  in  the 
French  towns,  ready  to  do  anything  for  any- 
body that  calls  upon  him. 

Rollo  resolved  not  to  employ  either  a  cab- 
man or  a  commissioner,  if  it  could  possibly  be 
avoided.  He  took  the  address  of  the  bureau 
from  his  father,  and  sallied  forth. 

He  first  went  round  the  corner  to  a  bookstore 
where  he  recollected  to  have  seen  a  map  of 
Lyons  hanging  in  the  window.  He  looked  at 
this  map,  and  found  the  street  on  it  where  he 
wished  to  go.  He  then  studied  out  the  course 
which  he  was  to  take.  Lyons  stands  at,  or 
rather  near  the  confluence  of  the  two  rivers 
Rhone  and  Saone.  In  coming  to  Lyons  from 
Paris,  the  party  had  come  down  the  valley  of 
the  Saone ;  but   now  they  were  to  leave  this 


20  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 

valley,  and  follow  up  that  of  the  Rhone  to 
Geneva,  which  is  situated,  as  has  already  been 
said,  on  the  Rhone,  at  the  point  where  that 
river  issues  from  the  Lake  of  Geneva. 

The  hotel  where  Rollo's  father  had  taken 
lodgings  was  near  the  Saone ;  and  Rollo  found 
that  the  bureau  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
town,  where  it  fronts  on  the  Rhone. 

So  Rollo  followed  the  course  which  he  had 
marked  out  for  himself  on  the  map.  In  a  short 
time  he  saw  before  him  signs  of  bridges  and  a 
river. 

"  Ah,"  says  he  to  himself;  "I  am  right;  I 
am  coming  to  the  Rhone. ' ' 

He  went  on,  drawing  nearer  and  nearer. 
At  length  he  came  out  upon  the  broad  and  beau- 
tiful quay,  with  large  and  elegant  stone  build- 
ings on  one  side  of  it,  and  a  broad  but  low 
parapet  wall  on  the  other,  separating  the  quay 
from  the  water.  There  was  a  sidewalk  along 
this  wall,  with  many  people  walking  on  it; 
and  here  and  there  men  were  to  be  seen  lean- 
ing upon  the  wall,  and  looking  over  at  the 
boats  on  the  river.  The  river  was  broad,  and 
it  flowed  very  rapidly,  as  almost  all  water  does 
which  has  just  come  from  Switzerland  and 
the  Alps.  On  looking  up  and  down,  Rollo 
saw  a  great  number  of  bridges  crossing  this 
stream,  with  teams  and  diligences,  and  in  one 
place  a  long  troop  of  soldiers  passing  over., 
On  the  other  side,  the  bank  was  lined  with 
massive  blocks  of  stone  buildings.  In  a  word, 
the  whole  scene  presented  a  very  bright  and 
animated  spectacle  to  view. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  21 

Nearly  opposite  to  the  place  where  Rollo 
came  upon  the  river,  he  saw,  over  the  parapet 
wall  that  extended  along  on  the  outer  side  of 
the  quay,  a  very  large,  square  net  suspended 
in  the  air.  It  was  hung  by  means  of  ropes  at 
the  four  corners,  which  met  in  a  point  above, 
whence  a  larger  rope  went  up  to  a  pulley  which 
was  attached  to  the  end  of  a  spar  that  pro- 
jected from  the  stern  of  a  boat.  The  net  was 
slowly  descending  into  the  water  when  Rollo 
first  caught  a  view  of  it;  so  he  ran  across, 
and  looked  over  the  parapet  to  see. 

The  net  descended  slowly  into  the  water.  It 
was  let  down  by  men  in  the  boat  paying  out 
the  line  that  held  it. 

"Ah,"  said  Rollo  to  himself;  "that's  a 
curious  way  to  rig  a  net.  I  should  like  to  stay 
and  see  them  pull  it  up  again,  so  as  to  see  how 
many  fish  they  take;  but  business  first  and 
pleasure  afterwards  is  the  rule." 

So  he  left  the  parapet,  and  walked  along  the 
quay  toward  the  place  where  the  bureau  was 
situated. 

"I'll  come  back  here,"  said  he  to  himself, 
"when  I  have  got  my  place  on  the  banquette, 
and  see  them  fish  a  little  while,  if  I  find  there 
is  time. " 

In  a  few  minutes  Rollo  came  to  the  place 
he  was  seeking.  It  was  in  a  little  square, 
called  Concert  Place,  opening  toward  the  river. 
Rollo  knew  the  bureau  by  seeing  the  diligence 
standing  before  the  door.  It  had  been  brought 
up  there  to  be  ready  for  the  baggage,  though 
the  horses  were  not  yet  harnessed  to  it. 


22  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

Rollo  went  into  the  office.  He  found  himself 
in  a  small  room,  with  trunks  and  baggage 
arranged  along  on  one  side  of  it,  and  a  little 
enclosure  of  railings,  with  a  desk  behind  it,  on 
the  other.  There  was  a  young  man  sitting 
at  this  desk,  writing. 

"This  must  be  a  clerk,  I  suppose,"  said 
Rollo  to  himself. 

Opposite  to  where  the  clerk  was  sitting  there 
was  a  little  opening  in  the  railings,  for  people 
to  pay  their  money  and  take  their  tickets ;  for 
people  take  tickets  for  places  in  the  diligence, 
in  Europe,  just  as  they  do  for  the  railroad. 
Rollo  advanced  to  this  opening,  and,  looking 
through  it,  he  stated  his  case  to  the  clerk.  He 
said  that  he  had  a  place  in  the  coupe  that  his 
father  had  taken  for  him,  but  that  he  would 
rather  ride  on  the  banquette,  if  there  was 
room  there,  and  if  anybody  would  take  his 
place  in  the  coupe. 

The  clerk  said  that  there  had  been  a  great 
many  persons  after  a  place  in  the  coupe  since 
it  had  been  taken,  and  that  one  lady  had 
taken  a  place  on  the  banquette,  because  all 
the  other  places  in  the  coach  had  been  en- 
gaged. 

"I  think,"  said  the  clerk,  "that  she  will  be 
very,  glad  to  exchange  with  you,  and  pay  you 
the  difference.  She  lives  not  far  from  here, 
and  if  you  will  wait  a  few  minutes,  I  will  send 
and  see." 

So  the  clerk  called  a  commissioner  who  stood 
at  the  door,  and  after  giving  him  his  direc- 
tions sent  him  away.     In  a  few  minutes  the 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  23 

commissioner  returned,  saying  that  the  lady- 
was  very  glad  indeed  to  exchange.  He  brought 
in  his  hand  a  five  franc  piece  and  three  francs 
which  was  the  difference  in  the  price  of  the 
two  places.  The  clerk  gave  this  money  to 
Rollo,  and  altered  the  entry  on  his  books  so 
as  to  put  the  lady  in  the  coupe  and  Rollo  on 
the  banquette.  Thus  the  affair  was  all  ar- 
ranged. 

Rollo  found  that  it  was  now  six  o'clock.  The 
diligence  was  not  to  set  out  until  half  past 
seven ;  but  by  the  rules  of  the  service  the  pas- 
sengers were  all  to  be  on  the  spot,  with  their 
baggage,  half  an  hour  before  the  time ;  so  that 
Rollo  knew  that  his  father  and  mother  would 
be  there  at  seven. 

4 'That  gives  me  just  an  hour,"  said  he  to 
himself;  "so  I  shall  have  plenty  of  time  to  go 
and  see  how  they  manage  fishing  with  that  big 
net." 

He  accordingly  went  to  see  the  fishing,  but 
was  very  careful  to  return  some  minutes  before 
the  appointed  time. 

Rollo  had  a  very  pleasant  ride  that  night  to 
Geneva.  He  wrote  a  long  and  full  account  of 
it  afterwards,  and  sent  it  to  his  cousin  Lucy. 
This  letter  I  shall  give  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  reason  why  Rollo  wrote  so  long  an 
account  of  his  journey  was  this:  that  his  father 
required  him,  when  traveling,  to  spend  one 
hour  and  a  half  every  day  in*  study  of  some 
kind ;  and  writing  letters,  or  any  other  intel- 
lectual occupation  that  was  calculated  to  ad- 
vance his  education,  was  considered  as  study. 


24  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

In  consequence  of  this  arrangement,  Rollo  was 
never  in  a  hurry  to  come  to  the  end  of  his 
letters,  for  he  liked  the  work  of  writing  them 
better  than  writing  French  exercises,  or  work- 
ing on  arithmetic,  or  engaging  in  any  of  the 
other  avocations  which  devolved  upon  him 
when  he  had  no  letters  on  hand. 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  25 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  RIDE  TO  GENEVA. 


"Dear  Lucy: — 

"I  am  going  to  give  you  an  account  of  my 
night  ride  from  Lyons  to  Geneva. 

44 1  got  to  the  diligence  office  before  father 
came,  because  I  was  going  to  ride  up  in  the 
bellows-top.  I  call  it  the  bellows-top  so  that 
you  may  understand  it  better.  It  is  a  place  up 
in  the  second  story  of  the  diligence,  where  there 
are  seats  for  four  persons,  and  a  great  bellows- 
top  over  their  heads.  I  think  it  is  the  best  place, 
which  is  right  under  it.  I  got  eight  francs, 
though  people  have  to  pay  more  for  the  coupe, 
which  is  more  than  a  dollar  and  a  half,  for 
exchanging  my  seat  in  the  coupe  for  one  on 
the  banquette.  I  exchanged  with  a  lady.  I 
suppose  she  did  not  like  to  climb  up  the  lad- 
der. You  see  in  the  coupe  you  step  right  in 
as  you  would  into  a  carriage ;  but  you  have  to 
go  up  quite  a  long  ladder  to  get  to  the  ban- 
quette. I  counted  the  steps.  There  were 
thirteen. 

"When  I  got  to  the  office,  the  men  were 
using  the  ladder  to  put  up  the  baggage.  They 
put  the  baggage  on  the  top  of  the  diligence, 
along  the  whole  length  of  it  behind  the  bellows- 
top.     They  pack  it  all  in  very  closely,  begin- 


26  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 

ning  immediately  behind,  and  coming"  regularly- 
forward,  as  far  as  it  will  reach.  There  is  a 
frame  over  it,  and  a  great  leather  covering. 
They  pull  the  covering  forward  as  fast  as  they 
get  the  trunks  packed,  until  at  last  the  bag- 
gage is  all  covered  over  as  far  forward  as  to 
the  back  of  the  bellows-top. 

"The  men  were  using  the  ladders  when  I 
came,  getting  up  the  baggage;  so  I  climbed 
up  by  the  little  steps  that  are  made  on  the 
side  of  the  diligence.  I  liked  my  seat  very 
much.  Before  me  was  a  great  leather  boot. 
The  boot  was  fastened  to  an  iron  bar  that  went 
across  in  front,  so  that  it  did  not  come  against 
my  knees.  Above  me  was  the  bellows-top,  to 
keep  off  the  rain.  Up  under  the  roof  of  the 
bellows-top  there  was  a  sash  folded  together 
and  fastened  up  by  straps.  I  unfastened  one 
of  the  straps,  and  saw  that  I  could  let  down 
the  sash  if  I  wished,  and  thus  make  a  glass 
window  in  front  of  me,  so  as  to  shut  me  in 
nicely  from  the  wind,  if  it  should  grow  cold  in 
fhe  night.  Behind  me  was  a  curtain.  The 
curtain  was  loose.  I  pushed  it  back,  and 
found  I  could  look  out  on  the  top  of  the  dili- 
gence where  the  men  were  at  work  packing  the 
trunks  and  baggage.  The  men  wore  blue 
frocks  shaped  like  cartmen's  frocks. 

"Right  before  the  boot  was  the  postilion's 
seat.  It  was  a  little  lower  than  my  seat,  and 
was  large  enough  for  two.  The  conductor  s 
seat  was  at  the  end  of  my  seat,  under  the  bel- 
lows-top. There  was  one  thing  curious  about 
his   seat,  and  that  is,  that   there  was   a  joint 


ROLLO  IN   GENEVA.  27 

in  the  iron  bar  of  the  boot,  so  that  he  could 
open  his  end  of  it,  and  get  out  and  in  without 
disturbing  the  boot  before  the  rest  of  the  pas- 
sengers. When  I  wanted  to  get  out  I  had  to 
climb  over  the  boot  to  the  postilion's  seat,  and 
,so  get  down  by  the  little  iron  steps. 

"The  reason  I  wanted  to  get  down  was  so  as 
to  buy  some  oranges.  There  was  a  woman 
down  there  with  oranges  to  sell.  She  had 
them  in  a  basket.  I  thought  perhaps  that  I 
might  be  thirsty  in  the  night,  and  that  I  could 
not  get  down  very  well  to  get  a  drink  of  water. 
So  I  climbed  down  and  bought  four  oranges. 
I  bought  one  for  myself,  and  two  to  give  father 
and  mother,  and  one  more  because  the  woman 
looked  so  poor.  Besides,  they  were  not  very 
dear— only  fifteen  centimes  apiece.  It  takes 
five  centimes  to  make  a  sou,  and  a  sou  is  about 
as  much  as  a  cent. 

"When  I  had  bought  my  oranges  I  climbed 
up  into  my  place  again. 

"There  were  several  people  beginning  to 
come  and  stand  about  the  door  of  the  bureau. 
I  suppose  the}'  were  the  travelers.  Some  came 
in  cabs,  with  their  trunks  on  before  with  the 
postilion.  I  counted  up  how  many  the  dili- 
gence would  hold,  and  found  that  in  all,  includ- 
ing the  two  postilion's  seats,  and  the  conduct- 
or's, that  there  were  places  for  twenty-one. 
But  when  we  started  we  had  twenty-four  in 
all.  Where  the  other  three  sat  you  will  see 
by  and  by. 

"As  fast  as  the  passengers  came  to  the  office, 
the  men  took  their  baggage  and  packed  it  with 


28  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

the  rest,  on  the  top  of  the  diligence,  and  the 
passengers  themselves  stood  about  the  door, 
waiting  for  the  horses  to  be  put  in. 

44  Some  of  the  passengers  came  on  foot,  with 
commissioners  to  bring  their  baggage.  The 
commissioners  carried  their  baggage  on  their 
backs.  They  had  a  frame  something  like  an 
old-fashioned  kitchen  chair  strapped  to  their 
shoulders,  and  the  baggage  was  piled  upon 
this  very  high.  One  commissioner  that  came 
had  on  his  frame,  first  a  big  black  trunk,  placed 
endwise,  and  then  a  portmanteau,  then  a  car- 
pet bag,  and  on  the  top  a  bandbox.  The  band- 
box reached  far  above  his  head.  I  should  not 
think  they  could  possibly  carry  such  heavy 
loads. 

"  Presently  I  saw  father  and  mother  coming 
in  a  cab.  So  I  climbed  down  to  meet  them. 
The  men  in  the  blouses  took  their  trunk  and 
carried  it  up  the  ladder,  and  then  I  opened  the 
coupe  door  for  them,  and  let  them  get  in.  I 
told  mother  that  my  place  was  exactly  over 
her  head,  and  that  I  was  then  going  to  climb 
up  to  it,  and  that  when  I  was  there  I  would 
knock  on  the  floor,  and  she  would  know  that  I 
had  got  there  safely;  and  I  did. 

4 'By  and  by  they  got  all  the  baggage 
packed,  and  they  pulled  the  great  leather  cov- 
ering over  it,  and  fastened  it  to  the  back  of 
the  bellows- top.  Then  I  could  push  up  the 
curtain  behind  me  and  look  in  at  the  place 
where  the  baggage  was  stowed.  It  looked  like 
a  garret     It  was   not  quite  full.       There  was 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  29 

room  for  several  more  trunks  at  the  forward 
end  of  it. 

4 'Pretty  soon  after  this  they  brought  round 
the  horses  and  harnessed  them  in.  Then  the 
clerk  came  out  of  the  bureau  and  called  off  the 
names  of  the  passengers  from  his  list.  First 
he  called  the  names  of  those  who  were  to  go 
in  the  coupe.     He  said,  in  a  loud  voice, — 

"  'Monsieur  Holiday  and  Madame  Holiday!' 

"And  he  looked  in  at  the  coupe  door,  and 
father  said,  'Here.' 

4  Then  he  called  out, — 

"  'Madame  Tournay!' 

"That  was  the  name  of  the  lady  that  had 
changed  places  with  me.  So  she  got  into  the 
coupe.     That  made  the  coupe  full. 

"In  the  same  manner  the  clerk  called  off  the 
names  of  those  who  were  to  go  in  the  interior, 
which  is  the  center  compartment.  The  inte- 
rior holds  six. 

"Then  he  called  off  the  names  of  those  that 
were  to  go  in  the  'rotonde,'  which  is  the  back 
compartment.  You  get  into  the  rotonde  by 
a  door  behind,  like  the  door  of  an  omnibus. 

"Then  the  clerk  called  out  the  names  of  the 
people  that  were  to  come  up  to  the  banquette 
with  me.  There  were  six  of  them,  and  there 
seemed  to  be  only  room  for  three.  So  I  could 
not  imagine  where  they  were  all  going  to  sit. 
They  came  in  a  row,  one  behind  the  other,  up 
the  ladder.  Very  soon  I  saw  how  they  were 
going  to  sit;  for  the  three  that  came  first — a 
man  and  woman  and  a  girl — when  they  came 
into  the  banquette,  pushed  up  the  curtain  at 


30  ROLLO  IN   GENEVA. 

the  back  side  of  it,  and  so  climbed  in  behind 
to  the  garret,  and  sat  on  the  trunks.  When 
the  curtain  was  down,  after  they  were  in, 
they  were  all  in  the  dark  there. 

"However,  pretty  soon  they  contrived  to 
fasten  up  the  curtain,  and  then  they  could  see 
out  a  little  over  our  shoulders.  The  girl  sat 
directly  behind  me.  I  asked  her  if  she  could 
see,  and  she  said  she  could,  very  well. 

"The  postilion  then  climbed  up,  with  the 
reins  in  his  hand,  and  called  out  to  the  horses 
to  start  on.  He  talked  to  his  horses  in 
French,  and  they  seemed  to  understand  him 
very  well.  The  great  thing,  though,  was 
cracking  his  whip.  You  can  scarcely  conceive 
how  fast  and  loud  he  cracked  his  whip,  first 
on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other,  till  the 
whole  court  rang  again.  The  horses  sprang 
forward  and  trotted  off  at  great  speed  out  of 
the  place,  and  wheeled  round  the  corner  to 
the  quay ;  and  while  they  were  going,  the  con- 
ductor came  climbing  up  the  side  of  the  coach 
to  his  place. 

"The  conductor  never  gets  into  his  place 
before  the  diligence  starts.  He  waits  till  the 
horses  set  out,  and  then  jumps  on  to  the  step, 
and  so  climbs  up  the  side  while  the  horses  are 
going. 

"A  diligence  is  a  monstrous  great  machine, 
and  when  it  sets  out  on  a  journey  in  a  city, 
the  rumbling  of  the  wheels  on  the  pavement, 
and  the  clattering  of  the  horses'  feet,  and  the 
continual  cracking  of  the  coachman's  whip, 
and  the  echoes  of  all  these  sounds  on  the  walls 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  31 

of  the  buildings,  make  a  wonderful  noise  and 
din,  and  everybody,  when  the  diligence  is  com- 
ing, hurries  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Indeed,  I 
believe  the  coachman  likes  to  make  all  the 
noise  he  can ;  for  he  has  sleigh  bells  on  the 
harness,  and,  besides  cracking  his  whip,  he 
keeps  continually  shouting  out  to  the  horses 
and  the  teamsters  on  the  road  before  him ;  and 
whenever  he  is  passing  through  a  town  or  a 
village  he  does  all  this  more  than  anywhere 
else,  because,  as  I  suppose,  there  are  more 
people  there  to  hear  him. 

44 Presently,  after  driving  along  the  quay  a 
little  way,  we  turned  off  to  one  of  the  great 
stone  bridges  that  lead  across  the  Rhone.  We 
went  over  this  bridge  in  splendid  style.  I 
could  see  far  up  and  down  the  river,  and 
trains  of  wagons  and  multitudes  of  people 
going  and  coming  on  the  other  bridges.  The 
water  in  the  river  was  running  very  swift. 
There  were  some  boats  along  the  shore,  but  I 
don't  see  how  the  people  could  dare  to  ven- 
ture out  in  them  in  such  a  current. 

"As  soon  as  we  had  got  over  the  bridge,  we 
struck  into  a  beautiful  road  across  the  country, 
and  the  postilion  cracked  on  faster  and  harder 
than  ever.  We  had  five  horses,  three  abreast 
before,  and  two  behind.  They  went  upon  the 
gallop,  and  the  postilion  kept  cracking  his  whip 
about  them  and  over  their  ears  all  the  time. 
I  thought  for  a  while  that  he  was  whipping 
them;  but  when  I  leaned  forward,  so  that  I 
could  look  down  and  see,  I  found  that  he  did 
not  touch   them  with  his  whip  at  all,  but  only 


32  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

cracked  the  snapper  about  them,  and  shouted 
at  them  in  French,  to  make  them  go.  The  road 
was  as  hard  and  smooth  as  a  floor,  and  it  was 
almost  as  white  as  a  floor  of  marble. 

"The  country  was  very  beautiful  as  long  as 
we  could  see.  There  were  no  fences,  but 
there  were  beautiful  fields  on  each  side  of  the 
road,  divided  into  squares,  like  the  beds  of  a 
garden,  with  all  sorts  of  things  growing  in 
them. 

"Every  now  and  then  we  came  to  a  village. 
These  villages  were  the  queerest  looking 
places  that  you  can  imagine.  They  were 
formed  of  rows  of  stone  houses,  close  to  each 
other  and  close  to  the  street.  They  were  so 
close  to  the  street,  and  the  street  was  usually 
so  narrow,  that  there  was  scarcely  room  some- 
times to  pass  through.  I  could  almost  shake 
hands  with  the  people  looking  out  the  second- 
story  windows.  I  cannot  imagine  why  they 
should  leave  the  passage  so  narrow  between 
the  houses  on  such  a  great  road.  If  there 
were  any  people  in  the  street  of  the  village 
when  we  went  through,  they  had  to  back  up 
against  the  wall  when  we  passed  them,  to  pre- 
vent being  knocked  down. 

"When  we  were  going  through  any  of  these 
villages,  the  postilion  drove  faster  than  ever. 
He  would  crack  his  whip,  and  cheer  on  his 
horses,  and  make  noise  and  uproar  enough  to 
frighten  half  the  town. 

"We  went  on  in  this  way  till  it  began  to 
grow  dark.  The  postilion  handed  the  lanterns 
up  to  the  conductor,  and  he  lighted  them  with 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  33 

some  matches  that  he  carried  in  his  pocket. 
The  lanterns  had  reflectors  in  the  back  of 
them,  and  were  very  bright.  When  the  pos- 
tilion put  them  back  in  their  places  on  the 
front  of  the  coach,  the  light  shone  down  on 
the  road  before  us,  so  that  the  way  where  the 
horses  were  going  was  as  bright  as  day. 

4 'After  a  time  the  moon  rose,  and  that  made 
it  pretty  bright  everywhere.  Still  I  could 
not  see  very  far,  and  as  the  people  around  me 
were  talking,  I  listened  to  what  they  were  say- 
ing. The  conductor  was  telling  stories  about 
diligences  that  had  been  robbed.  He  said 
that  once,  when  he  was  traveling  somewhere, 
the  diligence  was  attacked  by  robbers,  and  he 
was  shot  by  one  of  them.  He  was  shot  in  the 
neck ;  and  he  had  to  keep  in  his  bed  six  months 
before  he  got  well.  I  listened  as  well  as  I 
could,  but  the  diligence  made  such  a  noise 
that  I  could  not  understand  all  he  said,  and  I 
did  not  hear  where  it  was  that  this  happened. 
I  suppose  it  was  probably  in  Italy,  for  I  have 
heard  that  there  were  "a  great  many  robbers 
there. 

"After  a  while  I  began  to  feel  sleepy.  I 
don't  remember  going  to  sleep,  for  the  first 
thing  I  knew  after  I  began  to  feel  sleepy  was 
that  I  was  waking  up.  We  were  stopping  to 
change  horses.  We  stopped  to  change  horses 
very  often — oftener  than  once  an  hour.  When 
we  changed  horses  we  always  changed  the  pos- 
tilion too.  A  new  postilion  always  came  with 
every  new  team.       It  was  only  the  conductor 

3    Geneva 


34  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

that  we  did  not  change.  He  went  with  us  all 
the  way. 

"We  changed  horses  usually  in  a  village; 
and  it  was  very  curious  to  see  what  queer-look- 
ing hostlers  and  stable  boys  came  out  with  the 
new  teams.  Generally  the  hostlers  were  all 
ready,  waiting  for  the  diligence  to  come ;  but 
sometimes  they  would  be  all  asleep,  and  the 
conductor  and  the  postilion  would  make  a 
great  shouting  and  uproar  in  waking  them  up. 

"When  the  new  team  was  harnessed  in,  the 
new  postilion  would  climb  up  to  his  seat,  with 
the  reins  in  his  hands,  and,  without  waiting  a 
moment,  he  would  start  the  horses  on  at  full 
speed,  leaving  the  poor  conductor  to  get  on  the 
best  way  he  could.  By  the  time  the  horses 
began  to  go  on  the  gallop,  the  conductor 
would  come  climbing  up  the  side  of  the  coach 
into  his  place. 

"It  was  curious  to  see  how  different  the 
different  teams  were  in  regard  to  the  number 
of  horses.  Sometimes  we  had  four  horses, 
sometimes  five,  and  once  we  had  seven.  For 
a  long  time  I  could  not  tell  what  the  reason 
was  for  such  a  difference.  But  at  last  I  found 
out.  It  was  because  some  of  the  stages  were 
pretty  nearly  level,  and  others  were  almost 
all  up  hill.  Of  course,  where  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  up  hill  they  required  more  horses.  At 
the  time  when  they  put  on  seven  horses  I 
knew  that  we  had  come  to  a  place  where  it 
was  almost  all  up  hill ;  and  it  was.  The  road 
went  winding  around  through  a  region  of  hills 
and  valleys,  but  ascending  all  the  time.      Still 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  35 

the  road  was  so  hard  and  smooth,  and  the 
horses  were  so  full  of  life,  that  we  went  on  the 
full  trot  the  whole  way.  Four  horses  could 
not  have  done  this,  though,  with  such  a  heavy 
load.     It  took  seven. 

"In  almost  all  the  villages  we  came  to  we 
saw  long  lines  of  wagons  by  the  road  side. 
They  were  very  curious  wagons  indeed.  They 
were  small.  Each  one  was  to  be  drawn  by 
one  horse.  There  was  nobody  to  them,  but 
only  two  long  poles  going  from  the  forward 
axletree  to  the  back  axletree;  and  the  load 
was  packed  on  these  poles,  and  covered  with 
canvas.  It  looked  just  like  a  big  bundle  tied 
up  in  a  cloth.  These  were  wagons  that  had 
stopped  for  the  night.  Afterwards,  when  the 
morning  came,  we  overtook  a  great  many 
trains  of  these  wagons,  on  the  road  to  Geneva. 
They  were  loaded  with  merchandise  going 
from  France  into  Switzerland.  There  was 
only  one  driver  to  the  whole  train.  He  went 
along  with  the  front  wagon,  and  all  the  rest 
followed  on  in  a  line.  The  horses  were  trained 
to  follow  in  this  way.  Thus  one  man  could 
take  charge  of  a  train  of  six  or  eight 
wagons. 

"There  was  one  very  curious  thing  in  the 
arrangement,  and  that  was,  that  the  last  horse 
in  the  train  had  a  bell  on  his  neck,  something 
like  a  cow  bell.  This  was  to  prevent  the 
driver  from  having  to  look  round  contiuually 
to  see  whether  the  rest  of  the  horses  were 
coming  or  not.  As  long  as  he  could  hear  the 
bell  on  the  last  one's  neck  he  knew  they  were 


36  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

all  coming ;  for  none  of  the  middle  ones  could 
stop  without  stopping  all  behind  them. 

"I  suppose  that  sometimes  some  of  the 
horses  in  the  train  would  stop ;  then  the  driver 
would  observe  that  the  bell  ceased  to  ring, 
and  he  would  stop  his  own  wagon,  and  go  back 
to  see  what  was  the  matter.  If  he  found  that 
any  of  them  stopped  to  eat  grass  by  the  way, 
or  because  they  were  lazy,  he  would  give 
them  a  whipping,  and  start  them  oh,  and  that 
would  teach  them  to  keep  marching  on  the 
next  time. 

"I  know  what  I  would  do  if  I  were  the  last 
horse.  Whenever  I  wanted  to  stop  and  rest  I 
would  keep  shaking  my  head  all  the  time,  and 
that  would  make  the  driver  think  that  I  was 
coming  along. 

"One  time,  when  we  were  stopping  to 
change  horses,  I  heard  some  one  below  me 
calling  to  me. 

"  'Rollo!' 

'  lI  believe  I  was  asleep  at  that  time,  and 
dreaming  about  something,  though  I  don't  re- 
member what  it  was.  I  started  up  and 
reached  out  as  far  as  I  could  over  the  boot, 
and  looked  down.  I  found  it  was  my  mother 
calling  to  me. 

"  'Rollo,'  said  she,  'how  do  you  get  along?' 

'•■  'Very  nicely  indeed,  mother,'  says  I;  'and 
how  do  3'ou  get  along?' 

**  'Very  well,'  says  she. 

"Just  then  I  happened  to  think  of  my 
oranges;  so  I  asked  mother  if  she  was  not 
thirsty,  and  she  said   she  was  a  little  thirsty, 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  37 

but  she  did  not  see  how  she  could  get  any 
drink  until  the  morning,  for  the  houses  were 
all  shut  up,  and  the  people  were  in  bed  and 
asleep.  So  I  told  her  that  I  had  an  orange 
for  her  and  for  father.  She  said  she  was  very 
glad  indeed. 

"I  could  not  get  down  very  well  to  give  the 
oranges  to  her,  so  I  put  them  in  my  little  knap- 
sack, and  let  them  down  by  a  string.  I  had 
the  string  in  my  pocket. 

44  Mother  took  the  oranges  out  of  the  knap- 
sack, and  then  I  pulled  it  up  again.  I  told  her 
that  I  had  plenty  more  for  myself. 

"Father  cut  a  hole  in  one  of  the  oranges  that 
I  sent  down  to  mother,  and  then  she  squeezed 
the  juice  of  it  out  into  her  mouth.  She  said 
afterwards  that  I  could  not  conceive  how 
much  it  refreshed  her.  I  don't  think  she  could 
conceive  how  glad  I  was  that  I  had  bought  it 
for  her. 

44 A  little  while  after  sunrise  we  came  to  a 
village  where  we  were  going  to  change  horses, 
and  the  conductor  said  that  we  should  stop 
long  enough  to  go  into  the  inn  if  we  pleased, 
and  get  some  coffee.  So  father  and  mother 
got  out  of  the  coupe,  and  went  in.  I  climbed 
down  from  my  place,  and  went  with  them. 
Mother  said  she  went  in  more  to  see  what  sort 
of  a  place  the  inn  was  than  for  the  sake  of  the 
coffee. 

44  It  was  a  very  funny  place.  The  floor  was 
of  stone.  There  was  one  table,  with  cups  on 
it  for  coffee,  and  plates,  and  bread  and  butter. 
The  loaves  of  bread  were  shaped  like  a  man's 


38  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 

arm — about  as  big-  round,  and  a  good  deal 
longer.  The  coffee  was  very  good  indeed,  on 
account  of  there  being  plenty  of  hot  milk  to 
put  into  it.. 

i4 After  we  had  had  our  breakfast  we  went 
on,  and  the  rest  of  our  ride  was  through  a 
most  magnificent  country.  There  was  a  long, 
winding  valley,  with  beautiful  hills  and  moun- 
tains on  each  side,  and  a  deep  chasm  in  the  mid- 
dle, with  the  River  Rhone  roaring  and  tumb- 
ling over  the  stones  down  at  the  bottom  of  it. 
The  road  went  wheeling  on  down  long  slopes, 
and  around  the  hills  and  promontories,  with 
beautiful  green  swells  of  land  above  it  and  be- 
low it.  The  horses  went  upon  the  run.  The 
postilion  had  a  little  handle  close  by  his  seat — 
a  sort  of  crank — that  he  could  turn  round  and 
round,  and  so  bring  a  brake  to  bear  against 
the  wheels,  and  thus  help  to  hold  the  carriage 
back.  When  he  began  to  go  down  a  slope  he 
would  turn  this  crank  round  and  round  as  fast 
as  he  could,  till  it  was  screwed  up  tight,  cheer- 
ing the  horses  on  all  the  time;  and  then  he 
would  take  his  whip  and  crack  it  about  their 
ears,  and  so  we  go  down  the  hills,  and  wheel 
round  the  great  curves,  almost  on  the  run, 
and  could  look  down  on  the  fields  and  mead- 
ows, and  houses  in  the  valley,  a  thousand  feet 
below  us.   It  was  the  grandest  ride  I  ever  had. 

"But  I  have  been  so  long  writing  this  letter 
that  I  am  beginning  to  be  tired  of  it,  though  I 
have  not  got  yet  to  Geneva;  so  I  am  going  to 
p top  now.  The  rest  I  will  tell  you  when  I  see 
you.     Your  affectionate  cousin,         Rollo.  " 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  39 

*'P.  S. — There  is  one  thing  more  that  I  will 
tell  you,  and  that  is,  that  we  went  through  a 
castle  at  one  place  in  the  valley.  It  was  a  cas- 
tle built  by  the  French  to  guard  their  frontier. 
Indeed,  there  were  two  castles.  The  road 
passes  directly  through  one  of  them,  and  the 
other  is  high  up  on  the  rocks  exactly  above  it. 
The  valley  is  so  narrow,  and  the  banks  are  so 
steep,  that  there  is  no  other  possible  place  for 
the  road  except  through  the  lower  castle.  The 
road  has  to  twist  and  twine  about,  too,  just  be- 
fore it  comes  to  the  castle  gates,  and  after  it 
goes  away  from  them  on  the  other  side,  so  that 
everything  that  passes  along  has  some  guns  or 
other  pointing  at  them  from  the  castle  for 
more  than  a  mile.  I  don't  see  how  any  enemy 
could  possibly  get  into  France  this  way. 

4 'There  was  also  a  place  where  the  Rhone 
goes  under  ground,  or,  rather,  under  the  rocks, 
and  so  loses  itself  for  a  time,  and  then  after  a 
while  comes  out  again.  It  is  a  place  where  the 
river  runs  along  in  the  bottom  of  a  very  deep 
and  rocky  chasm,  and  the  rocks  have  fallen 
down  from  above,  so  as  to  fill  up  the  chasm 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  and  all  the  water 
gets  through  underneath  them.  We  looked 
down  into  the  chasm  as  the  diligence  went  by, 
and  saw  the  water  tumbling  over  the  rocks 
just  above  the  place  where  it  goes  down.  I 
should  have  liked  to  stop,  and  to  climb  down 
there  and  see  the  place,  but  I  knew  that  the 
diligence  would  not  wait. ' ' 


40  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE    TOWN. 


The  valley  described  by  Rollo  in  his  letter 
to  Lucy,  contained  in  the  last  chapter,  is,  in- 
deed, a  very  remarkable  pass.  The  Romans 
traveled  it  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  in 
going  from  Italy  to  France,  or,  as  they  called 
it,  Gaul.  Caesar  describes  the  country  in  his 
Commentaries;  and  from  that  day  to  this  it 
has  been  one  of  the  greatest  thoroughfares  of 
Europe. 

The  valley  is  very  tortuous,  and  in  some 
places  it  is  very  narrow ;  and  the  road  runs 
along  through  it  like  a  white  thread,  suspended, 
as  it  were,  half-way  between  the  lofty  summits 
of  the  mountains  and  the  roaring  torrent  of 
the  Rhone  in  the  deep  abyss  below. 

After  emerging  from  this  narrow  pass,  the 
road  comes  out  into  an  open  country,  which  is 
as  fertile  and  beautiful,  and  as  richly  adorned 
with  hamlets,  villas,  parks,  gardens,  and  smil- 
ing fields  of  corn  and  grain,  as  any  country  in 
the  world.  At  length,  on  coming  over  the 
summit  of  a  gentle  swell  of  land,  that  rises  in 
the  midst  of  this  paradise,  the  great  chain  of 
the  Alps,  with  the  snowy  peak  of  Mont  Blanc 
crowning  it  with  its  glittering  canopy  of  snow, 
comes  suddenly  into  view. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  41 

"Look  there!"  said  the  conductor  to  the 
company  on  the  banquette.  ' '  See  there !  the 
Mont  Blanc,  all  uncovered!" 

The  French  always  call  Mont  Blanc  the 
Mont  Blanc,  and  for  all  clear  and  in  plain  view 
they  say  all  uncovered. 

It  is  calculated  that  there  are  only  about 
sixty  days  in  the  year,  upon  an  average,  when 
Mont  Blanc  appears  with  his  head  uncovered. 
They,  therefore,  whose  coming  into  Switzer- 
land he  honors  by  taking  off  his  cap,  have  rea- 
son greatly  to  rejoice  in  their  good  fortune. 

Rollo  had  seen  snow-covered  mountains 
shining  in  the  sun  before ;  but  he  was  greatly 
delighted  with  this  new  view  of  them.  There 
is,  indeed,  a  peculiar  charm  in  the  sight  of 
these  eternal  snows,  especially  when  we  see 
them  basking,  as  it  were,  in  the  ways  of  a 
warm  summer's  sun,  that  is  wholly  indescrib- 
able. The  sublime  and  thrilling  grandeur  of 
the  spectacle  no  pen  or  pencil  can  portray. 

After  passing  over  the  hill,  and  descending 
into  the  valley  again,  the  company  in  the  dil- 
igence came  soon  in  sight  of  the  environs,  of 
Geneva.  They  passed  by  a  great  many  charm- 
ing country  seats,  with  neat  walls  of  masonry 
bordering  the  gardens,  and  wide  gateways 
opening  into  pretty  courts,  and  little  green 
lawns  surrounding  the  chateaux.  At  length 
the  diligence  came  thundering  down  a  narrow 
paved  street  into  the  town.  Everything  made 
haste  to  get  out  of  the  way.  The  postilion 
cracked  his  whip,  and  cheered  on  his  horses, 
and  shouted  out  to  the  cartmen  and  footmen 


42  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

before  him  to  clear  the  way,  and  made  gener- 
ally as  much  noise  and  uproar  as  possible,  as 
if  the  glory  of  a  diligence  consisted  in  the  noise 
it  made,  and  the  sensation  it  produced  in  com- 
ing  into  town. 

At  length  the  immense  vehicle  wheeled 
round  a  corner,  and  came  out  upon  a  broad 
and  beautiful  quay.  The  quay  had  a  range  of 
very  elegant  and  palace-like  looking  houses 
and  hotels  on  one  side,  and  the  water  of  the 
lake — exceedingly  clear,  and  bright,  and  blue 
— on  the  other.  The  place  was  at  the  point 
where  the  water  of  the  lake  was  just  beginning 
to  draw  in  toward  the  outlet;  so  that  there 
was  a  pretty  swift  current. 

The  engraving  represents  the  scene.  In  the 
foreground  we  see  the  broad  quay,  with  the 
buildings  on  one  side,  and  the  low  parapet  wall 
separating  it  from  the  water  on  the  other.  In 
the  middle  distance  we  see  the  diligence  just 
coming  out  upon  the  quay  from  the  street  by 
which  it  came  into  the  town.  A  little  farther 
on  we  see  the  bridge  by  which  the  diligence 
will  pass  across  to  the  other  side  of  the  river — 
the  diligence  offices  being  situated  in  the  row 
of  buildings  that  we  see  on  the  farther  side. 
This  bridge  is  not  straight.  There  is  an  angle 
in  it  at  the  center.  From  the  apex  of  this 
angle  there  is  a  branch  bridge  which  goes  out 
to  a  little  island  in  the  lake.  This  island  is 
arranged  as  a  promenade,  and  is  a  great  place 
of  resort  for  the  people  of  Geneva.  There  are 
walks  through  it  and  all  around  it,  and  seats 
under  the  trees,  and  a  parapet  wall  or  railing 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  43 

encircling  the  margin  of  it,  to  prevent  children 
from  falling  into  the  water. 

As  the  diligence  rolled  along  the  quay,  and 
turned  to  go  over  the  bridge,  Rollo  could  look 
out  in  one  direction  over  the  broad  surface  of 
the  lake,  which  was  seen  extending  for  many 
miles,  bordered  by  gently  sloping  shores  com- 
ing down  to  the  water.  On  the  other  side  the 
current  was  seen  rapidly  converging  and  flow- 
ing swiftly  under  another  bridge,  and  thence 
directly  through  the  very  heart  of  the  town. 

The  diligence  went  over  the  bridge.  While 
it  was  going  over,  Rollo  looked  out  first  one 
way,  toward  the  lake,  and  then  the  other  way, 
down  the  river.  On  the  lake  side  there  was  a 
steamboat  coming  in.  She  was  crowded  with 
passengers,  and  the  quay  at  the  other  end  of 
the  bridge,  where  the  steamer  was  going  to 
land,  was  crowded  with  people  waiting  to  see. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  bridge,  that  is,  look- 
ing down  the  stream,  Rollo  saw  a  deep  blue 
river  running  more  and  more  swiftly  as  it  grew 
narrower.  There  were  several  other  bridges 
in  sight,  and  an  island  also,  which  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  stream,  and  was  covered  with 
tall  and  ancient-looking  buildings.  These 
buildings  indeed  more  than  covered  the  orig- 
inal island ;  they  extended  out  over  the  water 
— the  outer  walls  seeming  to  rest  on  piles,  be- 
tween and  around  which  the  water  flowed  with 
the  utmost  impetuosity.  The  banks  of  the 
river  on  each  side  were  walled  up,  and  there 
were  streets  or  platform  walks  along  the  mar- 
gin, between  the  houses  and  the  water.    There 


44  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

were  a  great  many  bridges,  some  wide  and 
some  narrow,  leading  across  from  one  bank  to 
the  other,  and  from  each  bank  to  the  island 
between. 

The  diligence  passed  on  so  rapidly  that  Rollo 
had  very  little  opportunity  to  see  these  things ; 
but  he  resolved  that  as  soon  as  they  got  estab- 
lished in  the  hotel  he  would  come  out  and  take 
a  walk,  and  explore  all  those  bridges. 

44 It  is  just  such  a  town  as  I  like,"  said  he  to 
himself.  "A  swift  river  running  through  the 
middle  of  it — water  as  clear  as  a  bell — plenty 
of  foot  bridges  down  very  near  to  the  water, 
and  ever  so  many  little  platforms  and  side- 
walks along-  the  margin,  where  you  can  stand 
and  fish  over  the  railings. ' ' 

In  the  meantime  the  diligence  went  thunder- 
ing on  over  the  bridge,  and  then  drove  along 
the  quay,  on  the  farther  side,  past  one  office 
after  another,  until  it  came  to  its  own.  Here 
the  horses  were  reined  in,  and  the  great  ma- 
chine came  to  a  stand.  The  doors  of  the  lower 
compartments  were  opened,  and  the  passengers 
began  to  get  out.  Two  ladders  were  placed 
against  the  side,  one  for  the  passengers  on  the 
banquette  to  get  down  by,  and  the  other  to  en- 
able the  blouses  that  stood  waiting  there  to 
uncover  and  get  down  the  baggage.  Rollo  did 
not  wait  for  his  turn  at  the  ladder,  but  climbed 
down  the  side  of  the  coach  by  means  of  any 
projecting  iron  or  steps  that  he  could  find  to 
cling  to. 

"  Now,  Rollo,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "the  hotel 
is   pretty  near,    and  we   are   going   to    walk 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  45 

there.  I  am  going  to  leave  you  here  to  select 
out  our  baggage,  when  they  get  it  down,  and 
to  bring  it  along  by  means  of  a  porter. ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "I  should  like  to  do 
that.     But  what  hotel  is  it?" 

"The  Hotel  de  l'Ecu,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

So  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  walked  along  the 
pier  to  the  hotel,  leaving  Rollo  to  engage  a 
porter  and  to  follow  in  due  time. 

The  porter  carried  the  baggage  on  his  back, 
by  means  of  a  frame,  such  as  has  been  already 
described.  Rollo  followed  him,  and  thus  he 
arrived  at  last  safely  at  the  hotel. 


46  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE     HOTEL. 


One  of  the  greatest  sources  of  interest  and 
pleasure  for  travelers  who  visit  Switzerland 
and  the  Alps  for  the  first  time,  especially  if 
they  are  travelers  from  America,  is  the  novelty 
of  the  arrangements  and  usages  of  the  hotels. 

One  reason  why  everything  is  so  different  in 
a  Swiss  hotel  from  what  we  witness  in  America 
is,  that  all  the  arrangements  are  made  to  ac- 
commodate parties  traveling  for  pleasure. 
Everything  is  planned,  therefore,  with  a  view 
of  making  the  hotel  as  attractive  and  agree- 
able to  the  guests  as  possible. 

The  Hotel  de  l'Ecu,  where  our  party  have 
now  arrived,  is  very  pleasantly  situated  on  the 
quay  facing  the  lake.  It  stands  near  the  fur- 
ther end  of  the  bridge. 

Indeed,  all  the  principal  hotels  in  Geneva 
are  situated  on  the  quay.  Quite  a  number  of 
the  large  and  handsome  edifices,  are  hotels. 
The  hotel  keepers  know  very  well  that  most 
of  the  travelers  that  come  to  Switzerland  come 
not  on  business,  but  to  see  the  lakes,  and 
mountains,  and  other  grand  scenery  of  their 
country.  Accordingly,  in  almost  every  place, 
the  situation  chosen  for  the  hotels  is  the  one 
which  commands  the  prettiest  views. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  47 

Then,  in  arranging  the  interior  of  the.  house, 
they  always  place  the  public  apartments,  such 
as  the  breakfast  and  dining  rooms,  and  the 
reading  room,  in  the  pleasantest  part  of  it;  and 
they  have  large  windows  opening  down  to  the 
floor,  and  pretty  little  tables  in  the  recesses  of 
them,  so  that  while  you  are  eating  your  break- 
fast or  reading  the  newspapers  you  have  only 
to  raise  your  eyes  and  look  out  upon  the  most 
charming  prospects  that  the  town  affords. 

Then,  besides  this,  they  have  gardens,  and 
summer  houses,  and  raised  terraces,  overlook- 
ing roads,  or  rivers,  or  beautiful  valleys,  and 
little  observatories,  and  many  other  such  con- 
trivances to  add  to  the  charms  of  the  hotel,  and 
make  the  traveler's  residence  in  it  more  agree- 
able. 

They  hope  in  this  way  to  induce  the  traveler 
to  prolong  his  stay  at  their  house.  And  it  has 
the  intended  effect.  Indeed,  at  almost  every 
hotel  where  a  party  of  travelers  arrive,  in  a 
new  town,  their  first  feeling  almost  always  is, 
that  they  shall  wish  to  remain  there  a  week. 

What  a  pleasant  place!  they  say  to  each 
other;  and  what  a  beautiful  room!  Look  at 
the  mountains!  Look  at  the  torrent  pouring 
through  the  valley!  What  a  pretty  garden! 
And  this  terrace,  where  we  may  sit  in  the 
evening,  and  have  our  tea,  and  watch  the  peo- 
ple across  the  valley,  going  up  and  down  the 
mountain  paths.  I  should  like  to  stay  here  all 
summer. 

Then  the  next  place  where  they  stop  may  be 
on  a  lake;  and  there,   when   they  go  to   the 


48  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

window  of  their  rooms,    or  of  the  breakfast 
room,  they  look  out  and  say, — 

Ah !  see  what  a  beautiful  view  of  the  lake ! 
How  blue  the  water  is !  See  the  sail  boats  and 
the  row  boats  going  to  and  fro.  And  down  the 
lake,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  there  is  a  steamer 
coming.  I  see  the  smoke.  And  beyond,  what 
a  magnificent  range  of  mountains,  the  tops  all 
covered  with  glaciers  and  snow ! 

When  Rollo  entered  the  hotel  at  Geneva,  he 
found  himself  ushered  first  into  a  large,  open 
apartment,  which  occupied  the  whole  center 
of  the  building,  and  extended  up  through  all 
the  stories,  and  was  covered  with  a  glass  roof 
above.  There  were  galleries  all  around  this 
apartment,  in  the  different  stories.  Doors 
from  these  galleries,  on  the  back  sides  of  them, 
led  to  the  various  rooms,  while  on  the  front 
sides  were  railings  where  you  could  stand  and 
Look  down  to  the  floor  below,  and  see  the  trav- 
elers coming  and  going. 

At  one  end  of  this  hall  was  a  winding  stair- 
case, with  broad  and  easy  stone  steps.  This 
staircase  ascended  from  story  to  story,  and 
communicated  by  proper  landings  with  the 
galleries  of  the  several  floors. 

This  hall,  though  it  was  thus  very  public  in 
its  character,  was  very  prettily  arranged.  The 
galleries  which  opened  upon  it  on  the  different 
stories  were  adorned  with  balconies,  and  the 
walls  of  it  were  hung  with  maps  and  pictures 
of  Alpine  scenery,  pretty  engravings  of  hotels 
standing  in  picturesque  spots  on  the  margins 
of  lakes,  or  on  the  banks  of  running  streams, 


ROLLO  IN   GENEVA.  49 

or  hidden  away  in  some  shady  glen,  in  the 
midst  of  stupendous  mountains.  Then,  besides 
these  pictures,  the  hall  was  adorned  with  stat- 
ues, and  vases  of  flowers;  and  there  was  a 
neat  little  table,  with  writing  materials  and 
the  visitor's  book  upon  it,  and  various  other 
fixtures  and  contrivances  to  give  the  place  an 
agreeable  and  homelike  air. 

As  Rollo  came  into  the  hall,  accompanied  by 
the  porter,  a  clerk  came  out  to  meet  him  from 
a  little  office  on  one  side,  and  told  him  that 
his  father  and  mother  were  in  their  room ;  and 
he  sent  a  messenger  to  show  Rollo  and  the 
porter  the  way  to  it. 

Rollo  accordingly  followed  the  messenger 
and  the  porter  upstairs,  and  was  ushered  into 
a  very  pleasant  room  on  the  second  story,  look- 
ing out  upon  the  lake  and  the  river.  Rollo 
went  immediately  to  the  window.  His  mother 
was  sitting  at  the  window  when  he  entered 
the  room. 

"This  is  a  pretty  window,  Rollo,"  said  she; 
"come  and  look  out." 

"See  how  many  bridges!"  said  she,  when 
Rollo  had  come  to  her  side. 

"And  how  swift  the  water  runs  under  them !" 
said  Rollo. 

"There  are  some  boys  fishing,"  said  Mrs. 
Holiday. 

"Yes,"  said  Rollo;  "I  should  think  there 
would  be  plenty  of  trout  in  such  a  river  as 
this,  it  runs  so  swift  and  is  so  clear.  This  is 
just  such  a  place  as  I  like.  See  that  big  water 
wheel,  mother." 

4   Geneva 


50  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

So  saying,  Rollo  pointed  to  a  large  mill 
wheel  which  was  slowly  revolving  by  the  side 
of  a  building  that  projected  out  over  the  water, 
on  the  island. 

The  island  where  Rollo  saw  the  wheel  is 
called  the  islet,  and  it  stands  in  the  lake, 
entirely  on  the  outer  side  of  the  first  bridge. 
The  island,  on  the  other  hand,  stands  in  the 
rapid  current  of  the  river,  below  the  second 
bridge,  and  is  entirely  covered,  as  has  already 
been  said,  with  tall  and  very  antique  looking 
buildings.  The  current  is  so  rapid  along  the 
sides  of  this  island,  and  along  the  adjacent 
shores,  that  it  will  carry  a  mill  anywhere 
wherever  they  set  a  wheel. 

"After  we  have  had  breakfast,"  said  Rollo, 
"I  mean  to  go  out  and  explore  all  those  bridges, 
and  go  about  all  over  the  island. " 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  "that will  be  very 
pleasant.  I  should  like  very  much  to  go  with 
you ;  and  I  will,  if  the  sun  does  not  come  out 
too  warm. ' ' 

By  this  time  Mr.  Holiday  had  paid  and  dis- 
missed the  porter;  and  he  now  turned  to  Rollo, 
and  asked  him  if  he  would  like  to  go  down  and 
order  breakfast.  Rollo  said  that  he  should 
like  to  go  very  much. 

"Go  down,  then,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "into 
the  dining  room,  and  choose  a  table  there,  near 
a  pleasant  window,  and  order  breakfast." 

"What  shall  I  order?"  asked  Rollo. 

"Anything  you  please,"  said  Mr.  Holiday; 
"you  know  what  will  make  a  good  breakfast." 

So  Rollo  went  out  of  the  room,  in  order  to 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  51 

go  downstairs.  He  passed  all  around  the 
gallery  of  the  story  he  was  in,  looking  at  the 
pictures  that  were  hung  upon  the  walls  as  he 
went,  and  then  descended  the  staircase  to  the 
lower  floor.  Here  he  found  doors  opening 
into  the  dining  room,  which  extended  along 
the  whole  front  of  the  hotel  toward  the  lake. 
The  room  was  large,  and  was  very  beautifully 
furnished.  There  was  a  long  table  extending 
up  and  down  the  middle  of  it.  On  the  back 
side  were  sofas,  between  the  doors.  On  the 
front  side  was  a  range  of  windows  looking  out 
upon  the  river.  The  windows  were  large,  and 
as  the  walls  of  the  hotel  were  very  thick,  a 
recess  was  formed  for  each,  and  opposite  each 
recess  was  a  round  table.  These  tables  were 
all  set  for  breakfasts  or  dinners. 

Some  of  these  tables  were  occupied.  Rollo 
chose  the  pleasantest  of  the  ones  that  were  at 
liberty,  and  took  his  seat  by  the  side  of  it. 
Presently  a  very  neatly- dressed  and  pleasant- 
looking  young  man  came  to  him,  to  ask  what 
he  would  have.  This  was  the  waiter;  and 
Rollo  made  arrangements  with  him  for  break- 
fast. He  ordered  fried  trout,  veal  cutlets, 
fried  potatoes,  an  omelette,  coffee,  and  bread 
and  honey.  His  father  and  mother,  when 
they  came  to  eat  the  breakfast,  said  they  were 
perfectly  satisfied  with  it  in  every  respect. 


52  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  RIDE  IN  THE  ENVIRONS. 

One  morning,  a  day  or  two  after  our  party 
arrived  at  Geneva,  Mr.  Holiday  told  Rollo,  as 
they  were  sitting  at  their  round  breakfast  table, 
at  one  of  the  windows  looking  out  upon  the 
lake,  that  he  had  planned  a  ride  for  that  day; 
and  he  said  that  Rollo,  if  he  wished,  might 
go  too. 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "only  I  think  I 
should  like  better  to  go  and  take  a  sail. " 

"I  believe  boys  generally  like  to  sail  better 
than  to  ride,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  "but  the 
places  that  we  are  going  to  are  where  we 
cannot  reach  them  in  a  boat.  However,  I 
will  make  you  an  offer.  We  are  going  to  ride 
in  a  carriage  to-day,  and  we  should  like  very 
much  to  have  you  go  with  us.  Now,  if  you 
will  go  with  us  on  this  ride,  I  will  go  and  take 
you  out  on  the  lake  to  sail  some  other  day." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  joyfully.  "But  how 
far  will  you  take  me?" 

"As  far  as  you  wish  to  go,"  said  Mr.  Hol- 
iday. 

"O,  father!"  said  Rollo;  "I  should  wish  to 
go  to  the  very  farthest  end  of  the  lake. ' ' 

"Well,"  said  his  father,  "I  will  take  you 
there." 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  53 

It  must  not  at  all  be  supposed  from  this  con- 
versation that  Mr.  Holiday  considered  it  nec- 
essary to  make  a  bargain  with  his  boy,  to  induce 
him  to  go  anywhere  or  to  do  anything  that  he 
desired.  He  put  the  case  in  this  way  to  amuse 
Rollo,  and  to  interest  him  more  in  proposed 
expeditions. 

" There  are  three  distinguished  personages," 
said  Mr.  Holiday,  li whose  names  and  histories 
are  intimately  associated  with  Geneva,  because 
they  all  lived  in  Geneva,  or  in  the  environs  of 
it.  These  three  persons  are  Madame  de  Stael, 
John  Calvin,  and  Voltaire.  I  will  tell  you 
something  about  them  on  the  way.  As  soon 
as  you  have  finished  your  breakfast  you  may 
go  and  engage  a  carriage  for  us.  Get  a~  car- 
riage with  two  horses,  and  have  it  ready  at 
half  past  ten." 

Rollo  was  always  much  pleased  with  such  a 
commission  as  this.  '  He  engaged  a  very  pretty 
carriage,  with  two  elegant  black  horses.  The 
carriage  had  a  top  which  could  be  put  up  or 
down  at  pleasure.  Rollo  had  it  put  down; 
for,  though  it  was  a  pleasant  day,  there  were 
clouds  enough  in  the  sky  to  make  it  pretty 
shady. 

There  was  a  front  seat  in  the  carriage,  where 
Rollo  might  sit  if  he  chose ;  but  he  preferred 
riding  outside  with  the  postilion. 

4 'And  then,"  said  Rollo  to  his  father,  "if 
there  are  any  directions  to  be  given  to  the  pos- 
tilion, or  if  you  have  any  questions  for  me  to 
ask,  I  can  speak  to  him  more  conveniently. " 


54  ROLLO  IN   GENEVA. 

"Is  that  the  true  reason  why  you  wish  to 
ride  there?"  asked  his  father. 

"Why,  no,  father,"  said  Rollo.  "The  true 
reason  is,  that  I  can  see  better. ' ' 

"They  are  both  very  good  reasons,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday.  "Then,  besides,  when  you  get 
tired  of  riding  there  you  can  come  inside." 

Accordingly,  when  the  carriage  came  to  the 
door,  Rollo,  after  seeing  his  father  and  mother 
safely  seated  inside,  mounted  on  the  top  with 
the  postilion,  and  so  they  rode  away. 

They  repassed  the  bridge  by  which  they  had 
entered  Geneva,  and  then  turned  to  the  right 
by  a  road  which  led  along  the  margin  of  the 
lake,  at  a  little  distance  from  the  shore. 

The  road  was  very  smooth  and  hard,  and  the 
country  was  beautiful.  Sometimes  the  road 
was  bordered  on  each  side  by  high  walls,  which 
formed  the  enclosures  of  gardens  or  pleasure 
grounds.  Sometimes  it  was  open,  and  afforded 
most  enchanting  views  of  the  lakes  and  of  the 
ranges  of  mountains  beyond.  But  what 
chiefly  amused  and  occupied  Rollo's  mind  was 
the  novelties  which  he  observed  in  the  form 
and  structure  of  everything  he  saw  by  the 
wayside.  Such  queer-looking  carts  and  wheel- 
barrows, such  odd  dresses,  such  groups  of 
children  at  play,  such  gates,  such  farmyards, 
such  pumps  and  fountains  by  the  roadside — 
everything,  indeed,  was  new  and  strange. 

After  the  party  had  been  riding  about  an 
hour  and  a  half,  they  passed  through  a  village 
which  consisted,  like  those  which  Rollo  had 
seen  on  the  road  from  Lyons,  of  compact  rows 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  55 

of  old  and  quaint-looking  stone  houses,  close  to 
the  roadside.  The  postilion  stopped  at  this  vil- 
lage to  give  the  horses  a  little  drink. 

"Now,  Rollo,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  4tI  wish 
you  would  get  down,  and  come  inside  a  little 
while." 

Rollo  obeyed ;  and  when  the  carriage  began 
to  go  on  again,  his  father  addressed  him  as 
follows : 

4 'We  are  going  to  see  the  residence  of 
Madame  de  Stael.  She  was  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  ladies  that  ever  lived.  She  was 
distinguished  as  an  authoress.  You  don't 
know  anything  about  her  now,  and  I  suppose 
you  don't  care  much  about  her." 

44 No,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  44I  do  not." 

44 But  then,"  continued, his  father,  "ina  few 
years  more  you  will  very  probably  read  some 
of  her  writings ;  and  at  any  rate  you  will  often 
hear  of  them.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of 
her  works  is  a  tale  called  Corinne. ' ' 

44 Ah,  yes,"  said  Rollo;  44 1  have  heard  of 
Corinne.  The  first  class  in  French  studied  in 
at  school. ' ' 

44Very  likely,"  said  Mr.  Holiday.  44It  is  a 
very  good  text  book  for  studying  French. 
At  any  rate  it  is  a  famous  book,  and  Madame 
de  Stael  is  a  very  celebrated  author.  '  She  was 
a  lady,  too,  while  she  lived,  of  great  personal 
distinction.  Her  rank  and  position  in  society  j 
were  very  exalted.  She  associated  with  kings  I 
and  princes,  and  was  closely  connected  with 
many  of  the  great  political  transactions  of  the 


56  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

day  in  which  she  lived.  This,  of  course, 
added  greatly  to  her  renown. 

"Her  father  was  a  very  distinguished  man, 
too.  His  name  was  Monsieur  Necker.  He 
was  a  great  statesman  and  financier.  The 
King  of  France  got  his  money  affairs  in  the 
greatest  confusion  and  difficulty,  and  he 
appointed  Monsieur  Necker  his  minister  of 
finance,  to  try  to  put  them  in  order." 

"And  did  he  succeed?"  asked  Rollo. 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  "it  was  too  late. 
The  disorder  was  hopeless,  and  it  ended  in 
the  great  French  revolution.  But  Necker  be- 
came a  very  celebrated  character  in  history. 
We  are  going  to  see  the  chateau  where  he 
lived.  We  shall  see  the  room  where  his 
daughter  wrote  Corinne.  I  wish  you  to  ob- 
serve carefully  all  that  you  see,  and  remember 
it.  Hereafter,  when  you  come  to  read  the  his- 
tory of  France  and  the  writings  of  Madame  de 
Stael,  you  will  look  back  with  great  pleasure 
to  the  visit  you  made  when  a  boy  to  the  cha- 
teau of  Necker,  near  Geneva. ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "I  will." 

A  short  time  after  this  the  carriage  stopped 
in  a  shady  place  under  some  trees,  near  the 
entrance  to  a  village.  The  postilion  descended 
and  opened  the  carriage  door,  and  then  pointed 
up  an  avenue  of  trees,  which  he  said  led  to  the 
chateau.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  got  out  of  the 
carriage  and  walked  up  the  avenue.  Rollo 
followed  them. 

They  came  at  length  to  the  chateau.  There 
was  a  large  portal,  closed  by  an  iron  gate.     On 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  57 

one  side  of  the  portal  was  a  lodge.  A  porter 
came  out  of  the  lodge,  and  Mr.  Holiday  asked 
him  if  they  could  see  the  chateau.  He 
answered  very  politely  that  they  could ;  and 
immediately  opening  the  iron  gate,  he  ushered 
the  whole  party  into  the  courtyard. 

The  court  yard  was  a  very  pleasant  place. 
It  was  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the 
buildings  of  the  chateau,  which  were  quite 
imposing  in  their  character,  like  a  palace. 
The  fourth  side  was  formed  by  a  handsome 
wall,  with  a  large  ornamented  gateway  in  the 
center  of  it,  leading  into  a  garden. 

The  entrance  to  the  chateau  was  at  a  large 
door  in  the  middle  of  one  side  of  the  yard. 
The  porter  ascended  the  steps,  and  rang  the 
bell.  He  said  to  Mr.  Holiday  that  some  one 
would  come  to  conduct  the  party  over  the  cha- 
teau, and  then  went  back  to  his  lodge. 

Presently  a  well-dressed  man  came  to  the 
door.  He  received  the  party  in  a  very  polite 
and  friendly  manner,  and  invited  them  in. 

The  first  apartment  that  they  entered  was  a 
hall.  The  hall  was  very  large,  and  was 
finished  and  furnished  like  a  room,  with  chairs, 
sofas,  and  a  great  fireplace.  On  one  side  was 
a  broad  stone  staircase,  ornamented  with  a 
massive  balustrade.  The  concierge  led  the 
way  up  this  staircase  to  a  sort  of  gallery  on 
the  second  floor.  From  this  gallery  a  door 
opened,  leading  to  the  suite  of  apartments 
which  Monsieur  Necker  and  his  distinguished 
daughter  had  occupied. 

The  rooms  were  constructed  and  arranged  in 


58  *       ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

the  style  common  in  French  palaces.  They 
were  situated  in  the  line  of  building  which 
formed  the  front  of  the  chateau;  and  on  the 
front  side  of  each  of  them  were  windows  look- 
ing out  upon  the  lake.  Of  course  these  win- 
dows formed  the  range  of  windows  in  the 
second  story  of  the  principal  front  of  the  edi- 
fice. 

On  the  back  side  of  each  of  these  rooms  was 
a  door  communicating  with  the  gallery  behind 
them,  or  with  some  subordinate  apartments 
depending  upon  them. 

Besides  these  doors,  there  were  others 
which  connected  the  different  apartments  of 
the  suite  with  each  other.  These  doors  were 
all  in  a  line,  and  they  were  near  the  side  of 
the  room  where  the  windows  were  which 
looked  out  upon  the  lake.  Thus  one  could 
pass  through  the  whole  suite  of  apartments  by 
walking  along  one  •  to  another  through  these 
doors,  passing  thus  just  in  front  of  the  range 
of  windows. 

The  rooms  were  all  beautifully  furnished  in 
the  French  style.  There  were  richly'  carved 
cabinets  and  book  cases,  and  splendid  mirrors, 
and  sofas  and  chairs,  and  paintings  and  statues. 
One  room  was  the  library.  Another  was  a 
bedroom.  In  one  there  were  several  portraits 
on  the  wall.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  seemed 
particularly  interested  in  examining  these  por- 
traits. One  represented  Madame  de  Stael  her- 
self;  another,  her  father,  Monsieur  Necker;  a 
third,  her  mother,  Madame  Necker.  Besides 
these,  there  were  some  others  of  the  family. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  59 

Rollo  looked  at  all  these  portraits,  as  his 
father  requested  him  to  do;  but  he  was  more 
interested  in  two  other  subjects  which  stood 
on  a  table  in  the  same  room.  These  objects 
were  two  little  figures,  one  representing  a  horse 
and  the  other  a  lamb.  These  figures  were  un- 
der a  glass.  The  horse  was  about  a  foot  long, 
and  the  lamb  about  six  inches.  The  horse 
was  of  a  very  pretty  form  and  was  covered 
with  hair,  like  a  living  animal.  The  lamb  in 
the  same  manner  was  covered  with  wool.  In- 
deed they  were  both  in  all  respects  models  of 
the  animals  they  represented  in  miniature. 

Rollo  asked  the  concierge  what  they  were. 

44 Ah,"  said  he, "those  are  models  of  a  favorite 
horse  and  a  favorite  lamb  that  belonged  to 
Monsieur  Necker.  When  they  died  he  was 
very  sorry ;  and  he  had  these  models  of  them 
made,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  them. " 

After  this,  in  other  rooms,  the  party  were 
shown  the  table  at  which  Madame  de  Stael 
sat  in  writing  Corinne,  and  the  inkstand  that 
she  used ;  and  when  they  went  downstairs,  the 
concierge  showed  them  into  a  large  hall, 
which  was  situated  directly  below  the  rooms 
they  had  been  visiting,  where  he  said  Madame 
de  Stael  used  to  have  her  dramas  performed 
from  time  to  time  before  an  audience  of 
friends  and  visitors  from  the  neighborhood. 

At  length  the  concierge  conducted  the  party 
to  the  door  where  they  had  come  in.  There 
Mr.  Holiday,  after  giving  him  a  franc,  thanked 
him  for  his  politeness,  and  bade  him  good  bye. 
The  party  took  a  little  walk  in  the  garden,  and 


60  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

then  returned  to  the  carriage  and  rode 
away. 

The  bodies  of  Monsieur  Necker  and  of  his 
daughter  lie  buried  in  a  little  grove  of  trees 
near  the  house.  The  party  saw  the  grove,  but 
visitors  are  not  allowed  to  go  to  the  graves. 

On  leaving  the  chateau,  the  carriage  turned 
off  from  the  lake,  and  took  a  road  that  led  back 
more  into  the  interior. 

"What  are  we  going  to  see  next,  father?" 
said  Rollo. 

1 f  We  are  going  to  see  the  house  where  the 
famous  philosopher,  Voltaire,  lived, ' '  replied 
Mr.  Holiday;  "though  on  the  way  we  are 
going  to  see  a  fountain  and  cascade. ' ' 

"Is  there  anything  very  remarkable  about 
the  fountain?"  asked  Rollo. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  "only  it 
is  mentioned  in  the  guide  books  as  worth 
being  visited." 

So  the  carriage  drove  on  through  a  very 
beautiful  country,  with  fields,  and  gardens, 
and  country  seats,  and  ancient  chateaux  bor- 
dering the  way.  From  time  to  time,  Rollo,  on 
looking  back,  obtained  splendid  views  of  the 
lake  behind  him,  and  of  the  gently-sloping 
and  highly-cultivated  shore  on  the  opposite 
side,  with  the  snowy  range  of  the  Alps  be- 
yond, shining  in  the  sun. 

At  length  they  arrived  at  a  village,  and 
stopped  before  an  inn.  The  postilion  said  that 
they  were  to  stop  there  with  the  carriage,  and 
go  to  the  fountain  on  foot. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  61 

"I  will  call  some  one  to  show  you  the  way," 
said  he. 

So  he  went  to  one  of  the  houses  across  the 
street,  and  called  a  woman  of  the  village,  and 
she  said  that  she  would  go  to  the  school  and 
call  her  boy.  . 

"But  it  is  a  pity,"  said  Mr.    Holiday,    "to/ 
take  the  boy  away  from  his  school. ' ' 

"O,  no,"  said  the  woman;  "that  is  nothing 
at  all." 

So  she  ran  along  the  street  of  the  village 
until  she  came  '  to  the  school-house,  and  pres- 
ently she  returned  with  the  boy.  He  had  a 
book  in  his  hand.  Rollo  looked  at  the  book, 
and  found  that  it  was  a  grammar.  The  covers 
of  it  were  worn,  and  the  leaves  tumbled,  and 
the  beginning  and  end  of  it  were  filled  with 
names  scribbled  on  the  blank  pages,  and  rude 
drawings,  which  made  it  look  exactly  like  the 
school-books  of  idle  boys,  as  Rollo  had  often 
seen  them  in  America. 

Rollo  gave  back  the  book  to  the  boy,  and  the 
boy  gave  it  to  his  mother,  and  then  he  began 
walking  along  the  road,  to  show  the  party  the 
way  to  the  fountain. 

He  led  them  out  of  the  village,  and  along 
the  pleasant  road,  until  at  length  they  came  to 
a  place  where  there  was  an  open  gateway, 
through  which  they  could  see  the  beautiful 
grounds  of  a  large  country  house,  which 
appeared  like  a  hotel.  There  were  ladies  and 
gentlemen  walking  about  the  grounds,  along  " 
the  margin  of  a  large  stream  of  water,  or  sit- 
ting in  groups  under  the  trees. 


62  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

"What  place  is  that?"  said  Rollo  to  the 
boy. 

4 'It  is  a  place  of  baths,"  said  the  boy. 

Rollo  wished  to  go  in  there  and  see  the 
grounds ;  but  the  boy  walked  on,  and  so  Rollo 
followed  him.  After  a  time  the  guide  turned 
off  into  a  field,  and  there  took  a  path  which 
led  down  toward  a  wood,  where  they  could  hear 
water  running.  When  they  came  into  the 
wood  they  saw  the  water.  It  was  a  large 
stream,  large  enough  for  a  mill  stream,  and  it 
ran  foaming  and  tumbling  down  over  its  rocky 
bed  in  a  very  picturesque  manner. 

The  walk  led  along  the  bank  of  the  stream, 
under  the  trees.  It  was  a  wide  and  very 
pleasant  walk,  and  was  well  graveled.  Here 
and  there  were  little  seats,  too,  at  pretty 
places  formed  by  the  windings  of  the  glen. 

After  walking  along  a  little  way,  and  not 
coming  to  anything  more,  Mrs.  Holiday  began 
to  be  tired. 

"I  wonder,"  said  she,  "if  there  is  anything 
remarkable  to  see  at  the  end  of  this  path. ' ' 

44 I'll  ask  the  boy,"  said  Rollo. 

44 Boy,"  he  added,  speaking  to  the  little 
guide,  44what  is  there  to  see  up  here?" 

44 It  is  this,"  said  the  boy,  pointing  to  the 
brook. 

44 Isn't  there  anything  else  besides  this 
stream?"  asked  Rollo. 

44 No,"  said  the  boy. 

44  He  says  there  is  not  anything  else, "  said 
Rollo  to  his  mother;  "and  so  I  don't  believe  it 
is  worth  while  to  go  any  farther.     We  have 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  63 

seen  this  brook  enough,  and  you  will  get  very 
tired." 

Mrs.  Holiday  sat  down  upon  a  green  bench 
that  happened  to  be  near,  at  a  turn  of  the 
stream,  in  order  to  take  time  to  consider  the 
question. 

Mr.  Holiday  sat  down  beside  her. 

"We  will  wait  here,  Rollo,  while  you  go  on 
with  the'  boy,  and  see  what  you  can  find.  I 
think  there  must  be  something  or  other  re- 
markable, for  they  would  not  make  so  good  a 
path  as  this  to  lead  to  nothing  at  all.  You 
may  go  on  with  the  boy,  and  see  what  it  comes 
to,  and  then  you  can  come  back  and  tell  us." 

Rollo  liked  this  plan  very  much,  and  so  he 
and  the  boy  walked  on. 

In  about  five  minutes  Mr.  Holiday  heard 
Rollo  calling  to  him. 

"Fa-ther!  fa-ther!"  said  he. 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "I  hear." 

"Come  up  here,"  said  Rollo,  calling  out 
again.     "It  is  a  very  curious  place  indeed." 

So  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  rose,  and  after  fol- 
lowing the  path  a  short  distance  farther 
through  the  wood,  they  came  to  where  Rollo 
was.  They  found,  to  their  astonishment,  that 
there  the  brook  which  they  had  been  following 
so  long  came  to  a  sudden  end,  or  rather  to  a 
sudden  beginning;  for  the  whole  volume  of 
water  that  composed  it  was  seen  here  to  come 
boiling  up  out  of  the  ground  in  a  sort  of  shal- 
low basin,  which  was  formed  on  the  hillside  at 
the  head  of  the  glen. 

The  place  was  very   secluded,    but  it   was 


64  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

very  beautiful.  It  was  shaded  with  trees, 
which  overhung  the  paths,  and  the  basin,  and 
the  various  channels  of  water  which  flowed 
from  it  and  around  it.  The  water  boiled  up 
very  copiously  from  between  the  stones  that 
had  been  set  up  to  form  the  margin  of  the 
basin,  and  also  among  the  sands  which  formed 
the  bottom  of  it.  The  walk  was  conducted  all 
around  this  singular  fountain;  and  it  passed 
across  the  outlet,  where  the  stream  flowed 
away  from  it,  over  a  neat  little  stone  dike, 
which  formed  the  edge  of  the  basin  on  the 
lower  side. 

Rollo  led  the  way  to  the  middle  of  this  dyke, 
and  his  father  and  mother  followed.  They 
stood  there  for  some  time,  looking  down  into 
the  basin  to  see  the  water  boil  up  from  between 
the  stones  and  among  the  sands. 

"This  is  a  very  curious  place  indeed,"  said 
Mrs.   Holiday. 

"It  certainly  is,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

"Well,  father,"  said  Rollo,  after  gazing  for 
some  time  into  the  bubbling  and  boiling  foun- 
tain, "where  does  all  this  water  come  from? 
What  makes  it  come  up  out  of  the  ground?" 

"Why,  the  truth  is,"  said  Mr.  Holiday, 
"though  it  seems  to  come  up,  it  really  comes 
down. 

"Do  you  see  all  this  mountain  up  here?"  he 
added.  So  saying,  he  pointed  to  the  land 
which  seemed  to  rise  to  a  great  height  above 
the  head  of  the  glen. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"Well,  this  mountain, "  continued  Mr.  Holi- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  65 

day,  "is  full  of  water.  All  mountains  are  full 
of  water,  for  it  rains  on  the  summits  and  sides 
of  them  almost  continually,  and  this  keeps 
them  always  full.  Generally  this  water  drains 
off  down  into  the  valleys,  through  the  beds  of 
sad  and  gravel  that  lie  in  the  heart  of  the 
mountain,  and  so  is  not  particularly  observed. 
Sometimes  it  breaks  out  in  small  springs,  at 
various  places  on  the  mountain  sides;  and 
sometimes  the  shape  of  the  rocks  and  openings 
in  the  mountain  are  such  as  to  collect  a  great 
quantity  of  it  in  one  place,  where  it  breaks  out 
into  the  open  ground  altogether,  as  it  does 
here.  There  are  a  great  many  such  fountains 
in  Switzerland." 

"Are  there  any  larger  than  this?"  asked 
Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "ten  times  as 
large.  Sometimes  the  water  forms  quite  a  lit- 
tle river  almost  immediately  after  it  comes  out 
of  the  ground. ' ' 

"I  should  like  to  see  them,"  said  Rollo. 

"Very  likely  you  will  see  some  of  them, " 
said  his  father. 

"But  then,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "if  this 
water  all  comes  from  the  rain,  I  should  think 
that  when  it  stops  raining  on  the  mountain 
above,  then  or  soon  afterward  the  water  would 
stop  boiling  up  here." 

"No,"  said  his  father;  "the  mountain  is  so 
large,  and  the  immense  beds  of  sand,  gravel 
and  rock  which  it  contains  hold  so  much  water, 
that  before  all  that  has  fallen  in  one  rain  has 
time  to  get  drained  away,  another  rain  comes, 

5    Geneva 


66  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

and  so  there  is  a  perpetual  supply,  especially 
for  such  fountains  as  come  from  channels  that 
reach  far  into  the  mountain. ' ' 

After  rambling  about  this  spot  for  some 
time,  the  party  returned  down  the  path ;  but 
instead  of  going  back  into  the  road  again  by 
the  way  they  came,  the  boy  led  them  through 
a  gate  into  the  grounds  of  the  hotel  which  they 
had  seen  in  coming. 

The  grounds  were  very  beautiful,  being 
shaded  with  trees,  and  full  of  walks ;  and  the 
stream  which  came  down  the  glen  spread  it- 
self out  in  various  directions  all  over  them, 
filling  a  great  number  of  channels  and  basins 
which  had  been  opened  here  and  there,  and 
were  seen  in  every  direction  among  the  trees 
and  foliage.  The  water  flowed  very  swiftly 
along  from  one  of  these  basins  to  another, 
sometimes  in  a  continuous  torrent,  and  some- 
times by  a  series  of  cascades  and  water- 
falls ;  and  in  the  bottoms  of  all  the  little  ponds 
the  water  was  seen  boiling  up  in  the  clean 
gray  sand,  just  as  it  had  done  in  the  fountain 
up  the  glen. 

There  were  walks  everywhere  along  the 
banks  of  these  streams,  and  little  bridges  lead- 
ing across  them.  There  were  seats  too,  and 
bowers,  and  a  great  many  other  pretty  places. 
At  one  spot  under  a  tree  was  a  large  white 
swan,  or  rather  a  sculptured  image  of  one,  sit- 
ting on  a  marble  stone,  and  pouring  out  a  con- 
stant stream  of  clear  cold  water  from  his 
mouth.  Underneath,  on  a  little  marble  slab, 
was  a  tumbler,  placed  there  to  enable  people 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  '  67 

to  take  a  drink.  Rollo  stopped  to  take  a  drink ; 
but  instead  of  using  the  tumbler,  he  caught  the 
water  in  a  drinking  cup  which  he  had  bought 
in  Scotland,  and  which  he  always  carried  in 
his  pocket. 

After  rambling  about  these  grounds  for  some 
time,  the  party  went  back  through  the  yard  of 
the  hotel  to  the  village.  There  they  dismissed 
the  boy.  Mr.  Holiday  gave  him  half  a  franc 
for  guiding  them.  Then  they  got  into  their 
carriage  again,  and  rode  on. 

In  about  an  hour  they  came  to  a  little  vil- 
lage named  Ferney,  near  which  was  the  cha- 
teau that  was  formerly  the  residence  of  the 
celebrated  philosopher  Voltaire.  The  carriage 
stopped  under  some  ancient  trees,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Holiday  and  Rollo  got  out  and 
walked  up  an  avenue.  At  the  head  of  the 
avenue  they  came  to  a  gate  which  led  into  the 
grounds  of  the  chateau. 

There  was  a  bell  cord  hanging  by  this  gate, 
and  a  placard  up,  requesting  visitors  to  ring 
the  bell,  and  not  to  enter  the  grounds  until  the 
domestic  should  come  to  guide  them. 

"Shall  I  ring,  father?"  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;   "ring  away." 

So  Rollo  pulled  the  bell  rope,  and  very  soon 
a  domestic  came.  He  received  the  company 
very  politely,  and  invited  them  to  follow  him. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  and  Rollo  accordingly 
followed  him  into  the  yard.  The  domestic  led 
them  round  to  the  front  of  the  house,  which 
was  turned  away  from  the  read.  The  front 
faced  a  beautiful  lawn,  ornamented  with  walks 


68  ROLLO  IN   GENEVA. 

and  trees.  In  one  place  there  was  a  table  un- 
der the  trees,  with  seats  around  it,  as  if  the 
family  were  accustomed  sometimes  to  take  their 
tea  there.  From  this  lawn  there  was  a  beau- 
tiful view  of  the  lake  and  of  the  mountains 
beyond. 

The  domestic  led  them  into  the  house,  and 
showed  them  the  two  rooms  in  it  which  con- 
tained most  of  the  memorials  of  Voltaire.  The 
most  remarkable  of  these  memorials  was  a 
marble  monument  which  stood  on  one  side  of 
the  room,  and  which  Rollo  said  looked  like  an 
ornamental  stove,  that  contained  Voltaire's 
heart.  His  body  was  buried  in  Paris,  but  his 
heart  was  deposited  in  this  sepulchral  urn. 

Besides  this  there  were  a  number  of  pictures 
in  the  room,  which  had  been  placed  there  by 
Voltaire.  Some  of  them  had  been  given  to  him 
by  the  emperors  and  kings  that  he  had  been 
acquainted  with. 

Rollo,  however,  did  not  take  much  interest 
in  any  of  these  things.  The  singular  appear- 
ance of  the  room  and  of  the  furniture  inter- 
ested him  in  some  degree  by  its  novelty,  but 
in  other  respects  he  was  very  little  amused  by 
what  he  saw.  He  was  glad  when  the  visit  to 
the  house  was  over,  and  he  came  out  again 
upon  the  lawn. 

From  the  lawn  there  was  a  very  splendid 
view.  There  was  a  broad  and  very  fertile 
slope  of  land  extending  for  several  miles  down 
to  the  shore  of  the  lake.  Beyond  it  was  seen 
the  blue  expanse  of  the  water,  and  still  farther 
another  magnificent  slope  of  fertile  and  richly- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  69 

cultivated  land,  which  extended  back  beyond 
the  lake  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  A  lofty 
range  of  snow-clad  summits  rose  in  the  dis- 
tance, the  towering  summit  of  Mont  Blanc  re- 
posing like  a  monarch  in  the  midst  of  them. 

There  was  a  curious  covered  walk  along  on 
one  side  of  this  lawn.  It  was  a  walk  covered 
with  foliage.  It  was  walled  in  on  the  sides, 
too,  as  well  as  covered  above  with  the  foliage. 
Two  hedges  had  been  planted,  one  on  each 
side ;  and  as  they  had  grown,  the  leaves  and 
branches  had  been  trimmed  off  straight  and 
smooth  like  a  wall.  Then  the  tops  had  been 
trained  to  meet  overhead,  and  the  foliage  had 
been  trimmed  square  and  flat  on  the  upper 
side,  and  in  an  arch  on  the  under  side.  So 
dense  was  the  growth  of  the  leaves  and  branches 
that  the  whole  alley  was  closely  and  completely 
enclosed,  so  that  it  would  not  have  been  possi- 
ble to  look  out  of  it  at  all,  had  it  not  been  that 
a  row  of  square  openings  like  windows  had 
been  made  on  the  side  towards  the  lake.  Any 
one  could  look  out  and  view  the  scenery 
through  these  openings  as  he  walked  along. 

Voltaire  used  to  compose  his  works  in  this 
alley,  it  was  said.  He  would  walk  up  and 
down,  and  dictate  as  he  walked  to  his  amanu- 
ensis, who  sat  near  at  hand  with  pen  and  ink 
to  write  down  the  philosopher's  words. 

After  this  the  domestic  conducted  the  party 
through  a  wood,  and  showed  them  a  tree  which 
Voltaire  had  planted.  It  was  now  a  tree  of 
great  size,  and  apparently  far  advanced  in  age. 

Rollo  took  very  little  interest  in  this  tree, 


70  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

and  even  his  father  and  mother  did  not  appear 
to  pay  much  attention  to  it.  It  seemed,  how- 
ever, that  other  visitors  had  not  felt  the  same 
indifference  to  it,  for  those  who  had  come  to 
see  it  had  picked  off  and  cut  off  so  many  pieces 
of  bark  to  carry  away  as  relics  that  the  tree, 
on  one  side,  had  become  entirely  excoriated, 
and  there  was  danger  that  in  the  end  the  poor 
sufferer  from  these  depredations  would  be 
killed.  In  order  to  protect  it,  therefore,  from 
any  further  injury,  the  proprietor  had  sur- 
rounded it  with  a  little  circular  paling,  so  that 
now  nobody  could  come  near  enough  to  touch 
the  tree. 

Rollo  was  glad  when  the  visit  to  this  place 
was  ended ;  so  he  ran  on  before  his  father  and 
mother  in  going  out,  and  was  on  his  seat  by 
the  side  of  the  postilion  long  before  they  came 
to  the  carriage. 

Ferney,  though  so  near  to  Geneva,  is  within 
the  confines  of  France,  and  the  carriage  passed 
the  line  between  the  two  countries  in  going 
home.  There  was  a  little  customhouse  and 
two  or  three  armed  policemen  at  the  frontier; 
but  the  party  of  travelers  were  not  molested, 
and  so  in  due  time  they  arrived  safely  home. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  71 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE     JUNCTION    OF    THE    ARVE. 

One  evening,  when  Rollo  was  walking  with 
his  father  and  mother  on  one  of  the  bridges 
which  led  over  the  river,  they  stopped  at  a 
place  where  two  boys  were  fishing,  and  looked 
down  over  the  railing  into  the  water.  The 
water  was  quite  deep,  but  they  could  see  the 
stones  on  the  bottom  of  it  almost  as  distinctly 
as  if  they  had  been  looking  only  through  the 
air. 

44 How  very  clear  the  water  is!"  said  Mrs. 
Holiday;  "and  what  a  beautiful  tinge  it  has ! 
What  is  the  reason  of  it?" 

44 1  don't  know  what  the  reason  is  of  the  blue 
tinge,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  l4but  the  cause  of 
its  being  so  clear  is,  that  it  flows  out  of  this 
great  lake,  where  it  has  been  lying  so  long  that 
it  has  had  time  to  settle  perfectly. 

44  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  streams 
of  Switzerland,"  continued  Mr.  Holiday. 
44  Some  are  exceedingly  clear,  and  some  are 
exceedingly  turbid.  There  are  two  ways  by 
which  the  turbid  waters  become  purified.  One 
is,  by  being  filtered  through  the  sands  under 
ground;  and  the  other  is,  by  4 settling,'  as  we 
call  it,  in  the  lakes.  The  water  Of  the  fountain 
that  we  saw  on  our  way  to  Ferney  was  beauti- 


72  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

fully  clear,  and  it  was  made  so  by  filtration  in 
the  sand,  in  coming  down  through  the  heart  of 
the  mountain.  This  water,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  made  clear  by  its  impurities  subsiding  in  the 
lake." 

4 'And  it  comes  in  muddy  at  the  other  end," 
said  Rollo.  . 

44 Not  muddy,  exactly,"  rejoined  Mr.  Holi- 
day, 44but  very  turbid.  The  turbidness  of  it  is 
not  mud  precisely.  It  comes  from  the  grind- 
ing up  of  rocks  by  the  slow  march  of  the  gla- 
ciers over  and  among  them.  Thus  all  the 
streams  that  come  from  glaciers  are  very  tur- 
bid ;  and  so  long  as  the  waters  flow  on  in  an 
uninterrupted  stream  they  continue  turbid; 
but  when  they  form  a  lake  the  particles  of 
stone  subside,  and  the  water  comes  out  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  lake  perfectly  clear. " 

44  And  then  continues  clear  till  it  gets  to  the 
ocean,  I  suppose,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday. 

44 Yes,"  replied  Mr.  Holiday,  44 unless  some 
other  turbid  stream,  which  has  no  lake  to 
settle  itself  in,  falls  into  it  and  pollutes  it 
again. 

44  That  is  the  case  with  this  river.  It  is  very 
clear  and  beautiful  here,  where  it  comes  out  of 
the  lake,  but  the  Arve  comes  in  a  mile  or  two 
below  Geneva,  and  brings  an  immense  volume 
of  turbid  water.  This  makes  the  whole  river 
turbid  again  after  the  waters  of  the  two  rivers 
have  flowed  long  enough  together  to  get  well 
mixed,  and  then  it  continues  turbid  all  the  way 
to  the  sea.     There  is  no  other  lake  to  settle  it. ' ' 

44 1   am  told,"  said  Mr.   Holiday,   "that  the 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  73 

coming  in  of  the  turbid  torrent  of  the  Arve 
into  the  clear  blue  waters  of  the  Rhone  is  a 
very  pretty  spectacle,  and  I  should  like  very 
much  to  see  it;  but  it  is  rather  too  far  to  go." 

"O,  no,  father,"  said  Rollo;  "let  us  go." 

4 'How  far  is  it?"  asked  Mrs.  Holiday. 

"About  a  mile,  I  should  think,  by  the  map," 
said  Mr.  Holiday;  "but  there  seems  to  be  no 
carriage  road  to  the  place.  If  there  had  been  a 
carriage  road  I  should  have  taken  you  there ; 
for  I  should  like  very  well  to  have  you  see  the 
place." 

"But,  father,  we  can  walk  there  very  easily," 
said  Rollo.  "There  is  a  nice  path  along  the 
bank  of  the  river.  I  saw  it  the  other  day, 
when  I  was  down  below  the  bridge. ' ' 

"Well,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "I  should  like  to 
go  very  much,  if  we  could  go  in  the  morning 
or  in  the  evening,  when  it  is  cool.  Is  the  walk 
shady,  Rollo?" 

"Yes,  mother,  it  is  shady  in  the  morning. 
There  is  a  high  hedge  all  along  on  one  side  of 
the  path,  and  that  keeps  the  sun  off  in  the 
morning.  In  the  evening  the  sun  comes  round 
to  the  other  side. ' ' 

"Then  we  will  go  in  the  morning,"  said 
Mrs.  Holiday.  "Let  us  get  up  early  to-mor- 
row morning,  and  go  before  breakfast. ' ' 

Mrs.  Holiday  was  really  desirous  of  seeing 
this  famous  junction  of  the  Rhone  and  the 
Arve;  but  her  chief  interest  in  making  the 
excursion  arose  from  her  sympathy  with  Rollo, 
and  from  observing  how  much  he  wished  to  go. 
It  is  always  so  with  a  mother.     When  her  chil- 


74  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

dren  are  kind  and  attentive  to  her,  and  obedi- 
ent to  her  wishes,  she  always  desires  most 
strongly  to  do  what  will  most  gratify  them. 

The  plan  was  arranged  according  to  Mrs. 
Holiday's  proposal,  and  the  next  morning  the 
party  set  out  at  half  past  six  o'clock.  Rollo 
led  the  way. 

4  *  What  I  should  like  best,"  said  Rollo,  turn- 
ing round  so  as  to  face  his  father  and  mother, 
and  walking  backward,  "would  be  to  take  a 
boat,  and  shoot  down  the  river  under  these 
bridges. ' ' 

"Ah,"  said  his  father,  "that  would  not  do. 
The  current  is  too  swift.  At  any  rate,  if  you 
were  to  go  down  you  would  never  get  the  boat 
back  again.      The  water  runs  like  a  mill  race. 

"Indeed,  it  is  a  mill  race,"  continued  Mr. 
Holiday.  "Don't  you  see  the  mill  wheels  pro- 
jecting into  the  stream,  here  and  there?  They 
are  carried  by  the  natural  force  of  the  current. " 

After  passing  by  the  buildings  of  the  town, 
Rollo  led  the  way  over  a  narrow  wooden 
bridge,  which  passed  across  the  old  moat  of  the 
town.  The  remains  of  a  monstrous  bastion 
were  to  be  seen  beyond  it. 

"This  is  a  part  of  the  old  fortifications,"  said 
Rollo.  "They  are  cutting  them  all  to  pieces 
now  with  roads  and  bridges  leading  in  and  out 
the  town." 

After  going  beyond  these  embankments, 
Rollo  led  the  way  to  a  path  which  lay  along 
the  river  side.  Very  soon  the  path  began  to 
be  a  very  pleasant  one  indeed.  Mrs.  Holiday 
was  delighted  with   it.      It  was  close  to  the 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  75 

margin  of  the  water,  and  only  a  very  few 
inches  above  the  level  of  it.  The  current  was 
very  swift,  and  the  water  was  so  blue,  and 
clear,  and  beautiful,  that  it  was  a  continual 
pleasure  to  look  down  into  it,  and  to  watch  the 
little  waves  and  ripples  that  curled  and  twirled, 
and  dashed  against  the  shore. 

There  was  a  row  of  willows  between  the 
paths  and  the  water,  or  rather  in  the  margin 
of  the  water,  for  the  path  was  so  near  to  the 
stream  that  there  was  scarcely  room  for  the 
willows  on  the  land.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
path  there  was  a  close  hedge,  which  formed  the 
boundary  of  a  region  of  fields,  meadows,  and 
gardens.  Here  and  there  were  gates  leading 
through  this  hedge;  and  the  party,  as  they 
walked  along,  could  look  through  the  openings 
and  see  the  peasant  girls  coming  out  to  their 
work  from  the  houses.  The  whole  region, 
though  it  was  highly  cultivated  and  extremely 
beautiful,  was  very  flat  and  level,  and  was 
only  raised  two  or  three  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  water. 

From  each  gateway  or  other  opening  through 
the  hedge  there  were  paths  leading  off  through 
the  fields  and  gardens  to  the  houses ;  and  there 
were  steps  at  the  gates  leading  down  to  the 
pathway  that  lay  along  the  margin  of  the 
stream.  The  people  of  the  houses  were  accus- 
tomed, it  seemed,  to  come  down  there  to  get 
water. 

Thus  the  party  walked  along,  with  the  rapid 
current  of  the  river  close  to  their  feet  on  one 
side,  and  the  high  green  hedge  shutting  them 


76  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

in  on  the  other,  while  the  tops  of  the  willow 
trees  spreading  over  their  heads  completed  the 
coolness  and  shadiness  of  the  pathway.  Rollo 
led  the  way,  and  his  father  and  mother  fol- 
lowed, one  by  one,  for  the  path  was  not  wide 
enough  for  two  to  walk  together. 

Presently  they  came  to  a  place  where  a  large 
water  wheel  of  a  very  curious  construction  was 
seen  revolving  quite  near  the  shore.  They 
stopped  to  look  at  it.  They  liked  to  see  it 
revolving;  and  then  besides  they  wished  to 
examine  the  construction  of  it.  It  was  mounted 
on  a  frame  of  timbers  that  had  been  set  up  for 
it  in  the  water,  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
shore.  The  wheel  itself  was  much  like  the' 
wheel  of  a  steamboat  only,  in  addition  to  the 
ordinary  float  boards,  it  had  a  series  of  buckets 
on  the  edge  of  it,  which  took  up  the  water  from 
the  stream,  as  the  wheel  revolved,  and  emptied 
it  into  a  trough  above,  as  they  went  over. 
From  this  trough  there  was  a  circular  pipe, 
made  very  strong,  which  conveyed  the  water 
by  a  subterranean  aqueduct  into  the  field  oppo- 
site, where  it  rose  into  a  reservoir  by  the  pres- 
sure of  the  column  in  the  pipe,  and  was  used 
to  irrigate  the  ground. 

Across  the  river  at  this  place  was  a  beautiful 
view  of  fields,  vineyards,  terraces,  and  gardens; 
for  on  that  side  the  bank  was  high,  and  as  the 
sun  shone  directly  upon  it,  the  whole  scene  pre- 
sented to  view  was  extremely  bright  and 
beautiful. 

At  one  of  the  gates  which  opened  through 
the  hedge,  Rollo  stopped  to  look  in.      He  saw 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.      .  77 

gardens  laid  out  in  squares,  with  corn,  and 
beans,  and  various  garden  vegetables  growing 
luxuriantly  in  them.  There  were  rows  of  fruit 
trees,  too,  bordering  the  paths,  and  at  a  dis- 
tance were  to  be  seen  houses  scattered  here 
and  there  over  the  plain,  the  dwellings  of  the 
owners  of  the  land.  Each  house  had  its  little 
barns  and  granaries  connected  with  it,  the 
whole  group  being  half  concealed  by  the  foliage 
of  the  trees  and  shrubs  that  had  been  planted 
around  it. 

"Will  it  do  for  us  to  go  in,"  said  Rollo  to  his 
father,  "and  walk  a  part  of  the  way  through 
these  gardens?" 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "I  presume  it  will 
do';  but  perhaps  we  had  better  do  down  all  the 
way  by  the  path,  and  come  back  by  the  gar- 
dens." 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "that  will  be  much 
the  best  plan." 

"But,  father,"  continued  Rollo,  "if  we 
should  go  across  these  gardens,  and  keep  on  in 
that  direction  for  some  time,  I  suppose  that  we 
should  come  to  the  Arve. " 

"Yes,"  said  his  father;  "the  Arve  is  coming 
down  from  the  mountains,  and  flowing  towards 
the  Rhone  not  very  far  from  here,  on  the  other 
side  of  this  flat  land.  This  land  constitutes  a 
sort  of  tongue  lying  between  the  two  rivers. 
1  suppose  it  has  been  formed  by  the  deposits 
that  the  Arve  brings  down.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  if  we  should  walk  across  the  tongue  of  land, 
we  should  come  to  the  Arve ;  but  it  is  better  to 


78  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

go  on  down  the  path  till  we  reach  the  point 
where  the  two  rivers  come  together. ' ' 

"Well,"  said  Rollo,  "we  will  go  on." 

So  they  went  on  along  the  path,  as  before. 

Rollo  soon  had  occasion  to  be  glad  that  he 
had  acceded  so  readily  to  his  father's  wishes  to 
continue  in  the  path;  for  he  soon  came  to 
something  that  amused  him  very  much.  It 
was  a  man  sitting  in  the  top  of  one  of  the  wil- 
low trees  that  overhung  the  path,  fishing.  The 
willow  leaned  very  much,  and  this  made  it  easy 
to  climb  the  stem  of  it.  It  had  been  headed 
down  too,  so  that  there  was  a  pretty  good  place 
to  sit  on  the  top  of  it.  It  was  on  the  very 
brink  of  the  stream,  and  indeed  the  leaning  of 
the  stem  carried  the  top  of  the  willow  some- 
what over  the  water,  and  thus  it  made  quite  a 
good  place  to  sit  and  fish. 

The  current  flowed  very  swiftly  under  the 
willow  tree,  and  the  fishing  line  was  carried 
far  down  the  stream. 

"Ah!"  said  Rollo;  "that  is  just  such  a  place 
as  I  should  like  to  have.  I  should  like  to  sit 
up  in  that  tree  and  fish  all  the  morning." 

"I  should  think  it  might  be  a  little  lone- 
some," said  Mr.  Holiday. 

"No,"  said  Rollo;  "or  perhaps  there  might 
be  some  other  boys  in  the  other  trees." 

So  saying,  Rollo  looked  up  and  down  the 
stream,  to  see  if  there  were  any  other  trees 
so  formed  as  to  furnish  a  seat  for  a  fisherman 
in  the  top  of  them ;  but  there  were  none. 

As  the  party  went  on  after  this  they  found 
evidences  increasing  that  they  were  drawing 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  79 

near  to  the  junction  of  the  rivers.  The  hedge 
became  less  regular,  and  at  length  ceased 
altogether.  Its  place  was  supplied  by  dense 
thickets  formed  of  alders,  willows,  and  long 
grass.  The  ground  became  more  and  more 
uneven,  and  at  length  nothing  of  the  path 
was  left  but  a  narrow  ridge  or  dike  that  had 
been  formed  artificially  along  the  shore,  with  a 
crooked  little  footway  on  the  top  of  it. 

At  last  Rollo  began  to  see  through  the 
bushes  occasional  glimpses  of  water  on  the 
other  side. 

1  'There,  father!"  said  he,  *  'there!  We  are 
coming  to  the  Arve. ' ' 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  "and  I  don't 
suppose  that  we  can  go  much  farther. ' ' 

Indeed,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  go 
much  farther,  if  there  had  not  been  a  small 
embankment  made  to  serve  for  a  pathway. 
The  party,  though  expecting  every  moment  to 
be  obliged  to  turn  back,  still  went  on.  At 
length  the  whole  expanse  of  the  Arve  opened 
before  them  as  it  came  in  from  the  left — its 
waters  boiling,  whirling,  and  sweeping  in  great 
circles  as  it  came  on,  and  the  whole  surface  of 
it  as  gray  as  the  sand  on  the  shores.  On  the 
other  side  was  the  Rhone,  blue,  and  pellucid, 
and  beautiful  as  the  sky  above. 

"What  an  extraordinary  spectacle!"  said 
Mr.  Holiday. 

"Come,  mother,"  said  Rollo,  "we  can  go  on 
a  good  deal  farther  yet." 

Rollo  was  right;  for  the  walk,  instead  of 
coming  to  an  end  at  the  extremity  of  the  point 


80  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

which  separated  the  two  rivers,  was  continued 
along  a  little  dike  or  embankment  which  seemed 
to  have  been  made  artificially  some  distance 
down  between  the  two  streams.  This  dike 
was  very  narrow,  being  just  wide  enough  in- 
deed for  a  narrow  footpath. 

In  advancing  along  this  path  it  was  very 
curious  to  observe  the  totally  different  aspects 
of  the  water  on  the  two  sides  of  it.  On  the 
one  side  it  was  turbid  and  gray,  and  perfectly 
opaque.  You  could  not  have  seen  the  polly  wogs 
in  the  shallowest  places  along  the  margin.  On 
the  other  side  it  was  so  clear  and  transparent 
that  you  could  have  seen  fishes  swimming 
where  it  was  ten  feet  deep.  It  was  of  such  a 
rich  and  beautiful  blue  color,  too,  as  if  it  had 
been  tinted  with  a  dye,  and  the  color  was  of  so 
rich  and  brilliant  a  hue,  that  Mrs.  Holiday 
was  continually  admiring  and  praising  it. 

This  narrow  path,  dividing  thus  the  waters 
of  the  two  rivers,  continued  several  yards ;  but 
at  length  it  came  to  an  end.  The  party  all 
went  on  till  they  reached  the  extremity  of  it, 
and  there,  looking  still  farther  on,  they  saw 
the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  gray 
water  and  the  blue  extending  itself  before 
them  as  far  as  they  could  see.  The  two  rivers 
remained  for  a  long  distance  perfectly  distinct, 
though  struggling  and  contending  against 
each  other,  as  it  were,  all  the  way.  The  line 
was  broken  and  indented  all  along  by  the  strife 
of  the  waters — the  gray  for  a  moment  pene- 
trating into  the  blue,  and  then  the  next  instant 
the  blue  forcing   itself    into    the  gray.     The 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  81 

waters  went  on  struggling  against  each  other 
in  this  manner  as  far  as  the  eye  could  follow 
them. 

The  party  remained  on  the  extremity  of  the 
point  a  long  time,  observing  this  singular  phe- 
nomenon. At  length  it  began  to  be  pretty 
warm  there;  for  the  narrow  tongue  of  land 
which  projected  so  far  between  the  two  cur- 
rents was  exposed  to  the  sun,  which  had  now 
risen  so  high  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
heat  in  his  rays. 

So  they  set  out  on  their  return  home.  On 
the  way  back  they  walked  a  considerable  dis- 
tance through  the  fields  and  gardens.  They 
went  into  them  from  the  path  along  the  shore, 
through  one  of  the  open  gates,  and  they  went 
back  to  the  path  again  by  another. 


6    Geneva 


82  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SEEING    MONT    BLANC    GO    OUT. 

" Father,"  said  Rollo  to  Mr.  Holiday,  at  din- 
ner one  day,  "what  are  you  going  to  do  this 
evening?" 

"We  are  going  to  see  Mont  Blanc  go  out," 
said  his  father. 

Mr.  Holiday  answered  Rollo  in  French,  using 
a  phrase  very  common  in  Geneva  to  denote  the 
.gradual  fading  away  of  the  rosy  light  left  upon 
Mont  Blanc  by  the  setting  sun ;  for  the  sun, 
just  at  the  time  of  its  setting  gilds  the  moun- 
tain with  a  peculiar  rosy  light,  as  if  it  were  a 
cloud.  This  light  gradually  fades  away  as  the 
sun  goes  down,  until  the  lower  part  of  the 
mountain  becomes  of  a  dead  and  ghostly 
white,  while  the  roseate  hue  still  lingers  on  the 
summit,  as  if  the  top  of  the  mountain  were 
tipped  with  flame.  These  last  beams  finally 
disappear,  and  then  the  whole  expanse  of  snow 
assumes  a  deathlike  and  wintry  whiteness. 
The  inhabitants  of  Geneva,  and  those  who  live 
in  the  environs,  often  go  out  to  their  gardens 
and  summer  houses  in  the  summer  evenings, 
just  as  the  sun  is  going  down,  to  see,  as  they 
express  it,  Mont  Blanc  go  out;  and  strangers 
who  visit  Geneva  always  desire,  if  they  can,  to 
witness  the  spectacle.     There  are,   however, 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  83 

not  a  great  many  evenings  in  the  year  when  it 
can  be  witnessed  to  advantage,  the  mountain 
is  so  often  enveloped  in  clouds. 

Rollo  had  heard  the  phrase  before,  and  he 
knew  very  well  what  his  father  meant. 

44 Well,"  said  he  in  a  tone  of  satisfaction; 
<4and  may  I  go,  too?" 

44 Yes,"  said  his  father;  44 we  should  like  to 
have  you  go  very  much.  But  there  is  a  ques- 
tion to  be  decided — how  we  shall  go?  The 
best  point  of  view  is  somewhere  on  the  shore 
along  the  lake  on  the  other  side  of  the  bridge. 
There  are  three  ways  of  going.  We  can  walk 
across  the  bridge,  and  then  follow  the  road 
along  the  shore  till  we  come  to  a  good  place, 
or  we  can  take  a  carriage,  and  order  the  coach- 
man to  drive  out  anywhere  into  the  neighbor- 
hood, where  there  is  a  good  view  of  the  moun- 
tain, or  we  can  go  in  a  boat. " 

"In  a  boat,  father!"  said  Rollo,  eagerly. 
44Let  us  go  in  a  boat!" 

44 The  objection  to  that,"  said  Mr.  Holiday, 
"is,  that  it  is  more  trouble  to  go  and  engage 
a  boat.  There  are  plenty  of  carriages  here  at 
the  very  door,  and  I  can  have  one  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice,  by  just  holding  up  my  finger." 

44 And,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "so  there  are 
plenty  of  boats  right  down  here  by  the  quay, 
and  I  can  get  one  of  them  in  a  moment,  just 
by  holding  up  my  finger. ' ' 

4 'Well,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "we  will  go  in  a 
boat  if  you  will  take  all  the  trouble  of  engag- 
ing one." 

Rollo  liked  nothing  better  than  this,  and  as 


U  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

soon  as  dinner  was  over  he  went  out  upon  the 
quay  to  engage  a  boat,  while  his  father  and 
mother  went  up  to  their  room  to  get  ready  to 
go. 

Rollo  found  plenty  of  boats  at  the  landing. 
Some  of  them  were  very  pretty.  He  chose 
one  which  seemed  to  have  comfortable  seats 
in  it  for  his  father  and  mother.  It  was  a  boat, 
too,  that  had  the  American  flag  flying  at  the 
stern.  Some  of  the  boatmen  get  American 
flags,  and  raise  them  on  their  boats,  out  of  com- 
pliment to  their  numerous  American  custo- 
mers. 

Soon  after  Rollo  had  engaged  the  boat,  his 
father  and  mother  came,  and  they  all  embarked 
on  board.  The  boatman  rowed  them  off  from 
the  shore.  The  sun  was  just  going  down. 
There  were  a  great  many  boats  plying  to  and 
fro  about  the  lake,  and  the  quays  and  the  little 
islet  were  crowded  with  people. 

After  rowing  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the 
boatman  brought  the  range  of  the  Alps  into 
full  view  through  an  opening  between  the 
nearer  hills.  The  sun  was  shining  full  upon 
them,  and  illuminating  them  with  a  dazzling 
white  light,  very  beautiful,  but  without  any 
rosy  hue. 
I    "They  don't  look  rosy  at  all,"  said  Rollo. 

"No,"- said  Mr.  Holiday,  "not  now.  They 
do  not  take  the  rosy  hue  till  the  sun  has  gone 
down.'* 

The  boatman  rowed  on  a  little  farther,  so  as 
to  obtain  a  still  better  view.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Holiday  watched  the  mountains;  but  Rollo  was 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  85 

more  interested  in  the  scene  immediately 
around  him.  He  watched  the  boats  that  were 
plying  to  and  fro  over  the  surface  of  the  lake, 
and  the  different  parties  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men in  them.  He  gazed  on  the  quays,  too,  all 
around,  and  on  the  islet,  which  was  not  far 
off,  and  on  the  people  that  he  saw  there,  some 
walking  to  and  fro,  and  others  leaning  over 
the  parapet  and  looking  out  upon  the  water. 

"Rollo,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "see  if  there  is  a 
rudder. ' ' 

"Yes,  father,  there  is,*'  said  Rollo.  So  say- 
ing, he  climbed  over  the  seats,  between  his 
father  and  mother,  and  took  his  place  by  the 
rudder. 

"Steer  us,  then,  over  to  the  opposite  shore, 
wherever  you  see  there  is  a  pleasant  place  to 
land." 

Rollo  was  glad  and  sorry  both  to  receive  this 
command.  He  was  glad  to  have  the  pleasure 
of  steering,  but  he  was  sorry  that  his  father 
intended  to  land.  He  would  have  preferred 
remaining  out  upon  the  water. 

He,  however,  obeyed  his  father's  command, 
and  steered  toward  the  farther  shore,  turning 
the  head  of  the  boat  in  an  oblique  direction,  a 
little  way  up  the  lake.  Presently,  Mr.  Holiday 
saw  some  friends  of  his  in  a  boat  that  was 
coming  in  the  opposite  direction.  He  ordered 
Rollo  to  steer  toward  them.  Rollo  did  so,  and 
soon  the  boats  came  alongside.  The  oarsmen 
of  both  boats  stopped  rowing,  and  the  two 
parties  in  them  came  to  a  parley. 

There  was   a  little  girl   in   the  other  boat, 


86  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

named  Lucia.  There  was  no  other  child  in 
that  boat,  and  so  there  was  nobody  for  Lucia 
to  play  with.  Lucia,  therefore,  asked  her 
father  and  mother  to  allow  her  to  get  over  into 
Mr.  Holiday's  boat,  so  that  she  could  have 
somebody  to  play  with. 

4 'Why,  Lucia,"  said  her  mother,  "Rollo  is  a 
great  boy.     He  is  too  big  to  play  with  you. " 

"I  know  it,"  said  Lucia;  "but  then  he  is 
better  than  nobody." 

Rollo  might  perhaps  have  been  made  to  feel 
somewhat  piqued  at  being  considered  by  a 
young  lady  as  only  better  than  nobody  for  a 
companion,  had  it  not  been  for  the  nature  of 
the  objection,  which  was  only  that  he  was  too 
large.  So  he  felt  complimented  rather  than 
otherwise,  and  he  cordially  seconded  Lucia's 
wish  that  she  might  be  transferred  to  his 
father's  boat,  and  at  length  her  mother  con- 
sented. Lucia  stepped  carefully  over  the  gun- 
wales, and  thus  got  into  Mr.  Holiday's  boat. 
She  immediately  passed  along  the  stern,  and 
took  her  place  by  the  side  of  Rollo  at  the  rud- 
der. The  boats  then  separated  from  each 
other,  and  each  went  on  its  own  way. 

"What  is  this  handle,"  said  Lucia,  "that  you 
are  taking  hold  of?" 

"It  is  the  tiller,"  said  Rollo. 

44  And  what  is  it  for?"  asked  Lucia. 

44 It  is  the  handle  of  the  rudder,"  said  Rollo. 
44  The  rudder  is  what  we  steer  the  boat  by,  and 
the  tiller  is  the  handle  of  it.  The  rudder  itelf 
is  down  below  the  water. " 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  87 

So  Rollo  let  Lucia  look  over  the  end  of  the 
boat  and  see  the  rudder  in  the  water. 

Rollo  then  proceeded  to  explain  the  oper- 
ation of  the  rudder. 

44 You  see,"  said  he,  "that  when  I  move  the 
tiller  over  this  way,  then  the  head  of  the  boat 
turns  the  other  way ;  and  when  I  move  it  over 
that  way,  then  the  head  of  the  boat  comes 
round  this  way.  The  head  of  the  boat  always 
goes  the  contrary  way. ' '  f 

"I  don't  see  why  it  should  go  the  contrary 
way,"  said  Lucia.  "I  should  think  it  ought 
to  go  the  same  way." 

44 No,"  replied  Rollo;  44it  goes  the  contrary 
way.  And  now  I  am  going  to  steer  to  a  good 
place  to  land  on  the  shore  over  there. ' ' 

So  saying,  Rollo  pointed  to  the  shore  to- 
ward which  the  boat  was  going. 

The  boat  was  now  drawing  near  the  shore. 
There  was  first  a  landing,  where  several  small 
vessels  were  drawn  up,  and  immense  piles  of 
wood  in  great  wood  yards. 

This  wood  had  a  very  singular  appearance. 
The  bark  was  all  off,  and  the  ends  of  the  logs 
looked  rounded  and  worn,  as  if  they  had  been 
washed  in  the  water.  The  reason  was,  that 
the  wood  had  grown  on  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  had  been  brought  down  to  the  lake 
by  the  torrents  which  pour  down  the  mountain 
sides  with  great  force  in  time  of  rain. 

44 We  won't  land  in  the  wood  yards — will 
we?"  said  Rollo. 

44 No,"  said  Lucia;  "but  there's  a  pretty 
place  to  land,  a  little  farther  on." 


SS    -  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

So  saying,  Lucia  pointed  to  a  very  pretty 
part  of  the  shore,  a  little  farther  on.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  garden, and  a  little  green  lawn, 
with  large  trees  overshadowing  it ;  and  at  one 
place  there  was  a  projecting  point  where  there 
was  a  summer  house  with  a  table  in  it,  and  a 
seat  outside,  near  the  beach,  under  a  bower. 

"Yes,"  said  Rollo;  "that  is  a  very  pretty 
place ;  but  it  looks  like  private  ground.  I  think 
we  must  not  land  there." 

As  the  boat  glided  by  this  place,  Rollo  and 
Lucia  saw  some  ladies  and  gentlemen  sitting 
in  the  summer  house.  The  gentlemen  took 
off  their  hats  and  bowed  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hol- 
iday as  they  passed  by. 

Next  the  boat  came  to  a  place  where  there 
was  a  low  parapet  wall  along  the  shore,  and 
behind  it  were  to  be  seen  the  heads  of  a  num- 
ber of  men  who  seemed  to  be  sitting  at  tables, 
and  drinking  coffee  or  beer. 

"Here  is  a  good  place  to  land,"  said  Lucia. 

"No, "  said  Rollo;  "this  seems  to  be  some 
sort  of  public  place,  full  of  men.  We  had 
better  go  a  little  farther. ' ' 

So  Rollo  steered  on,  keeping  all  the  time  at 
just  a  safe  distance  from  the  shore.  The 
water,  was  most  beautifully  transparent  and 
clear,  so  that  all  the  pretty  stones  and  pebbles 
on  the  bottom  could  be  seen  very  distinctly  at 
a  great  depth. 

"What  pretty  water!"  said  Lucia. 

"Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "it  is  so  clear." 

"What  makes  it  so  clear?"  asked  Lucia. 

"Because  the  lake  is  so  long,"  said  Rollo, 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  89 

"and  this  is  the  lower  end  of  it,  and  the  water 
has  time  to  settle.  At  the  other  end,  where 
the  water  comes  in,  it  is  not  so  clear.  This  is 
the  end  where  the  water  runs  out. " 

A  moment  afterward  they  came  to  a  very 
pleasant  landing,  at  a  place  where  the  road 
lay  pretty  near  the  water.  Between  the  road 
and  the  water,  however,  there  was  a  space  of 
green  grass,  with  large  trees  overshadowing  it 
and  several  wooden  settees,  painted  green, 
under  the  trees. 

"Ah!"  said  Rollo,  "here  is  just  the  place  for 
us. 

"Father,"  he  added,  "do  you  think  it  would 
be  a  good  plan  to  land  here?" 

"Yes,"  said  his  father;  "we  could  not  have 
had  a  better  place.  I  thought  you  would  find 
a  pleasant  landing  for  us  if  I  gave  you  the 
command." 

So  Rollo  brought  the  boat  up  to  the  shore, 
and  they  all  got  out.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday 
walked  up  and  took  their  seats  on  one  of  the 
settees,  while  Rollo  and  Lucia  began  to  run 
about  and  play  along  the  parapet  wall  which 
separated  the  promenade  from  the  water. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  watched  the  moun- 
tains. The  sun  had  now  just  gone  down,  though 
his  beams  still  tipped  the  summits  of  the  hills, 
and  were  reflected  from  the  windows  of  the 
distant  houses.  The  snow  on  the  mountains, 
too,  began  to  assume  a  very  beautiful  rosy  hue, 
which  increased  in  brilliancy  the  further  the 
sun  went  down,  and  the  more  the  lower  lands 
became  darkened. 


•90  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA* 

"How  beautiful  it  is!"  said  Mrs.  Holiday. 

4 'It  is  very  beautiful  indeed,"  said  her  hus- 
band. 

"Rollo,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "look  at  Mont 
Blanc.     See  how  bright  and  rosy  he  looks. " 

"Yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo;  "and  look  dut 
on  the  lake,  and  see  the  heads  of  those  two 
boys  swimming  in  the  water. ' ' 

"Are  those  the  heads  of  boys?"  asked  Mrs. 
Holiday. 

"Yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo;  "see  how  far 
they  are  swimming  out. " 

When  Mrs.  Holiday  looked  back  at  the 
mountain,  she  found,  to  her  great  disappoint- 
ment, that  the  rosy  color  which  had  appeared 
so  beautiful  a  moment  before  had  now  disap- 
peared ;  and  the  whole  snowy  side  of  the  range, 
up  to  the  summits  of  the  loftiest  peaks,  was  of 
a  cold,  dead  white,  as  if  the  rays  of  the  sun 
had  been  entirely  withdrawn. 

"Ah!  look!"  she  said  to  Mr.  Holiday,  in  a 
tone  of  disappointment;  "Mont  Blanc  has 
gone  out  while  we  have  been  looking  another 
way. ' ' 

Mr.  Holiday  gazed  intently  at  the  mountain 
and  very  soon  he  saw  the  rosy  tint  beginning 
to  appear  again  on  one  of  the  summits,  more 
brilliant  than  ever. 

"No,"  said  he,  "the  sun  has  not  gone.  I 
thought  it  could  not  have  gone  down  so  soon. 
There  must  have  been  a  cloud  in  the  way." 

While  Mr.  Holiday  had  been  speaking,  the 
rekindling  of  the  mountain  had  gone  on  apace, 
and  now  the  whole  side  of  it  was  all  in  a  glow. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  91 

Just  at  this  instant  Rollo  heard  the  sound  of 
a  gun.     Lucia  started  and  looked  alarmed. 

"What  is  that  gun?"  said  Rollo;  "and  where 
was  it?    Let  us  look  for  the  smoke." 

So  Rollo  and  Lucia,  leaning  over  the  par- 
apet, began  to  look  all  about  among  the  boats 
and  vessels  of  the  lake,  and  along  the  opposite 
shore,  in  the  direction  from  which  the  sound 
of  the  report  had  seemed  to  come,  and  very- 
soon  their  eyes  rested  upon  a  volume  of  blue 
smoke  which  was  ascending  from  the  bows  of 
a  little  vessel  that  had  just  come  in,  and  was 
floating  off  gracefully  into  the  air. 

"It  is  that  vessel  that  has  just  got  in,"  said 
Rollo. 

"Rollo,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "look  at  the 
mountain." 

Rollo  turned  his  eye  for  a  moment  toward 
the  mountain.  All  the  lower  part  of  it  was  of 
a  cold  and  deathlike  whiteness,  while  the  tip  of 
the  summit  was  glowing  as  if  it  had  been  on 
fire.  He  was,  however,  too  much  interested 
in  the  smoke  of  the  gun  to  look  long  at  the 
mountain. 

4 '  Hark ! ' '  said  he  to  Lucia ;  "let  us  see  if  they 
will  not  fire  again. ' ' 

They  did  not  fire  again ;  and  just  as  Rollo 
began  to  give  up  expecting  that  they  would, 
his  attention,  as  well  as  that  of  Lucia,  was  at- 
tracted to  a  little  child  who  was  playing  with 
a  small  hammer  in  the  gravel  not  far  from 
where  they  were  standing.  The  mother  of  the 
child  was  sitting  on  a  bench  near  by,  knitting. 
The  hammer  was  small,  and  the  claw  of  it  was 


92  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

straight  and  flat.  The  child  was  using  it  for 
a  hoe,  to  dig  a  hole  in  the  gravel. 

"Now,"  said  Rollo,  "if  I  could  find  a  shin- 
gle  anywhere  about  here,  I  would  make  that 
child  a  shovel  to  dig  with. ' ' 

Rollo  looked  about,  but  there  was  nothing 
like  a  shingle  to  be  seen. 

In  a  few  minutes  his  father  called  him. 

"Rollo,"  said  he,  "we  are  going  back. 
Mont  Blanc  has  gone  out.     See!" 

Rollo  looked.  He  saw  that  the  last  linger- 
ing rays  of  the  sun  had  gone  from  the  summit 
of  the  mountain,  though  they  still  gilded  a 
small  rounded  cloud  that  floated  just  above  it 
in  the  sky. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo.  "I'll  go  and  call  the 
boat." 

"We  are  not  going  back  in  the  boat,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday;  "we  have  concluded  to  walk 
round  by  land,  and  over  the  bridge.  It  will 
be  better  for  Lucia  to  go  with  us;  but  you  may 
do  as  you  please.  You  may  walk  with  us,  or 
go  in  the  boat  with  the  boatman." 

Rollo  at  first  thought  that  he  should  prefer 
to  go  in  the  boat ;  but  he  finally  concluded  to 
accompany  his  father  and  mother.  So  the 
whole  party  returned  together  by  a  pleasant 
road  which  led  through  a  village  by  the  shore. 

When  they  came  out  to  the  quay  they  heard 
a  band  of  music  playing.  The  band  .was  sta- 
tioned on  the  little  islet  which  has  already  been 
described.  The  party  stopped  on  the  bridge 
to  listen;  at  least  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holiday  lis- 
tened,  but  Rollo   and  Lucia  occupied   them- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  93 

selves  the  while  in  looking  down  in  the  clear 
depths  of  the  water,  which  was  running  so 
swiftly  and  so  blue  beneath  the  piers  of  the 
bridge,  and  watching  to  see  if  they  could  see 
any  fishes  there.  Lucia  thought  at  one  time 
that  she  saw  one ;  but  Rollo,  on  examining  the 
spot,  said  it  was  only  a  little  crevice  of  the 
rock  wiggling. 

4 'What  makes  it  wiggle?"  asked  Lucia. 

4 '  The  little  waves  and  ripples  of  the  current, ' ' 
said  Rollo. 

When  Rollo  reached  the  hotel,  a  gentleman 
who  met  the  party  in  the  hall  said  to  him, — 

"Well,  Rollo,  have  you  been  to  see  Mont 
Blanc  go  out?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"And  how  did  you  like  it?"  said  the  gentle- 
man. 

"I  liked  it  very  much,  indeed,"  said  Rollo. 
"I  think  it  was  sublime." 


94  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A     LAW     QUESTION. 

"Now,  father,"  said  Rollo,  one  evening,  as 
he  was  sitting  at  the  window  with  his  father 
and  mother,  looking  out  upon  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Rhone,  that  were  shooting  so  swiftly 
under  the  bridges  beneath  the  windows  of  the 
hotel,  "you  promised  me  that  you  would  take 
as  long  a  sail  on  the  lake  with  me  as  I  wished. ' ' 

"Well,"  said  his  father,  "I  acknowledge  the 
promise,  and  am  ready  to  perform  it." 

"When?"  asked  Rollo. 

"At  any  time,"  said  his  father. 

"Then,  father,  let  us  go  to-morrow, "  said 
Rollo.  "We  can't  go  to-night,  for  I  am  going 
so  far  that  it  will  take  all  day.  I  am  going  to 
the  farther  end  of  the  lake." 

"Very  well,"  said  his  father;  "I  said  I  would 
take  as  long  a  sail  as  you  wished. ' ' 

"And  I  will  go  this  evening  and  engage  a 
sail  boat,"  said  Rollo,  "so  as  to  have  it  all 
ready. '  * 

There  was  always  quite  a  little  fleet  of  sail 
boats  and  row  boats  of  all  kinds  lying  near  the 
principal  landing  at  the  quay,  ready  for  excur- 
sions.  Rollo's  plan  was  to  engage  one  of  these. 

"No,"  said  his  father;  "we  will  not  take  a 
sail  boat :  we  will  take  a  steamboat. '  ■ 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  95 

Besides  the  sail  boats  and  row  boats,  there 
were  a  number  of  large  and  handsome  steam- 
boats plying  on  the  lake.  There  were  two  or 
three  that  left  in  the  morning,  between  seven 
and  eight  o'clock,  and  then  there  were  one  or 
two  at  noon  also.  Those  that  left  in  the  morn- 
ing had  time  to  go  to  the  farther  end  of  the 
lake  and  return  the  same  day;  while  those 
that  left  at  noon  came  back  the  next  morning. 
Thus,  to  see  the  lake,  you  could  go  in  the 
forenoon  of  one  day,  and  come  back  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  same,  or  you  could  go  in  the 
afternoon  of  one  day,  and  come  back  in  the 
morning  of  the  next. 

"Which  would  you  do?"  said  Mr.  Holiday 
to  Rollo. 

44 But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "I  think  it  would 
be  pleasanter  to  go  in  a  sail  boat.  Besides, 
you  said  that  you  would  take  me  to  a  sail ;  and 
going  in  a  steamboat  is  not  sailing. ' ' 

44  What  is  it  doing?"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

4  4  Steaming, "  said  Rollo.  44  A  steamer  does 
not  sail  in  any  sense. ' ' 

Mr.  Holiday  smiled  and  then  paused.  He 
was  reflecting,  apparently,  upon  what  Rollo 
had  been  saying. 

44 Then,  besides,"  said  Rollo,.  i4 don't  you 
think,  father,  it  would  be  pleasanter  to  go  in  a 
sail  boat?" 

44 The  first  question  is,"  said  Mr.  Holiday, 
4 'whether  I  am  bound  by  my  promise  to  go 
with  you  in  a  sail  boat,  if  you  prefer  it.  I 
said  I  would  take  you  to  a  sail.  Would  taking 
you  in  a  steamboat   be  a  fulfillment  of  that 


96  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

promise?  Suppose  we  refer  the  question  to  an 
umpire,  and  see  how  he  will  decide  it." 

"Yes;  but,  father, "  said  Rollo,  "if  you  think 
it  best  to  go  in  the  steamer,  I  should  not 
insist  upon  the  sail  boat,  by  any  means ;  so  it 
is  not  necessary  to  leave  it  to  any  umpire.  I 
will  give  it  up. ' ' 

"I  know  you  would  be  willing  to  give  it  up," 
said  Mr.  Holiday;  "but  then  we  may  as  well 
first  ascertain  how  the  case  actually  stands. 
Let  us  first  determine  what  the  promise  binds 
me  to.  If  it  does  not  bind  me  to  go  in  a  sail 
boat,  then  it  is  all  right;  there  will  be  no  need 
of  any  giving  up.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  my 
promise  does  bind  me  to  go  in  a  sail  boat, 
then  you  will  consider  whether  you  will  release 
me  from  it  or  not,  if  I  ask  it.  Besides,  it  will 
amuse  us  to  have  the  question  regularly  de- 
cided; and  it  will  also  be  a  good  lesson  for 
you,  in  teaching  you  to  think  and  speak  with 
precision  when  you  make  promises,  and  to 
draw  exact  lines  in  respect  to  the  performance 
of  them. " 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "who  shall  be  the 
umpire?" 

*  *  Mr.  Hall, ' '  said  his  father.  '  *  He  is  down  in 
the  dining  room  now,  taking  tea.  " 

Mr.  Hall  was  a  lawyer,  an  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  Holiday's,  whom  he  had  accidentally  met 
at  Geneva. 

"He  is  a  lawyer,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "and 
he  will  be  a  very  good  umpire." 

"Is  it  a  law  question?"  asked  Rollo. 

"Not  exactly  a  law  question,"  said  Mr.  Hoi- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  97 

iday,  "but  all  such  questions  require  for  an 
umpire  a  man  who  is  accustomed  to  think  pre- 
cisely. That  is  their  very  business.  It  is  true 
that  there  are  a  great  many  other  men  besides 
lawyers  who  think  precisely ;  and  there  are  some 
lawyers  who  think  and  reason  very  loosely,  and 
come  to  hasty  and  incorrect  conclusions.  Still, 
you  are  more  likely  to  get  a  good  opinion  on 
such  a  subject  from  a  lawyer  than  from 
other  men  taken  at  random.  So,  if  you  please, 
you  may  go  down  and  state  the  question  to 
Mr.  Hall,  and  I  will  abide  by  his  decision." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "I  will." 

"Only,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "you  must  state 
the  question  fairly.  Boys  generally,  when 
they  go  to  state  a  question  of  this  kind  in 
which  they  are  interested,  state  it  very 
unfairly." 

"How,  for  instance?"  asked  Rollo. 

"Why,  suppose,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "that 
you  were  to  go  to  Mr.  Hall,  and  say,  'Mr. 
Hall,  father  promised  me  that  he  would  take 
me  out  on  a  sail  upon  the  lake,  as  far  as  I 
wanted  to  go,  and  don't  you  think  he  ought  to 
do  it?'  " 

Rollo  laughed  heartily  at  this  mode  of  put- 
ting the  question.  "Yes,"  said  he,  "that 
sounds  exactly  like  a  boy.  And  what  would 
be  a  fair  way  of  stating  it?" 

"A  fair  way  would  be,"  said  Mr.  Holiday, 
"to  present  the  simple  question  itself,  without 
any  reference  to  your  own  interest  in  it,  and 
without  any  indication  whatever  of  your  own 
wish  or  opinion  in  respect  to  the  decision  of  it; 

7   Geneva. 


98  »       ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

as,  for  example,  thus:  'Mr.  Hall,  I  have  a 
question  to  ask  you.  Suppose  one  person 
promises  another  that  he  will  take  him  out  to 
sail  on  the  lake  on  a  certain  day ;  then,  when 
the  day  comes,  the  promiser  proposes  to  go  in 
the  steamboat.  Would  that  be  a  good  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise  or  not?'  " 

44 Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "I  will  state  it  so." 

So  Rollo  went  downstairs  into  the  dining 
room.  There  were  various  parties  there, 
seated  at  the  different  tables.  Some  were 
taking  tea,  some  were  looking  at  maps  and 
guide  books,  and  some  discussing  the  plan  of 
their  tours.  One  of  the  sofas  had  half  a  dozen 
knapsacks  upon  it,  which  belonged  to  a  party 
of  pedestrians  that  had  just  come  in. 

Rollo  looked  about  the  room,  and  presently 
saw  Mr.  Hall,  with  his  wife  and  daughter, 
sitting  at  a  table  near  a  window.  He  went  to 
him,  and  stated  the  question. 

The  lawyer  heard  Rollo  attentively  to  the 
end,  and  then,  instead  of  answering  at  once,  O, 
yes,  or  O,  no,  as  Rollo  had  expected,  he  seemed 
to  stop  to  consider. 

"That  is  quite  a  nice  question,"  said  Mr. 
Hall.  "Let  us  look  at  it.  The  point  is, 
whether  an  excursion  in  a  steamboat  is  a  sail, 
in  the  sense  intended  by  the  promise."  "Yes, 
sir,"  said  Rollo;  "that  is  the  point  exactly.  I 
think  it  is  not ;  father  thinks  it  is. " 

The  instant  that  these  words  were  out  of 
Rollo 's  mouth  he  was  sorry  that  he  had  spoken 
them ;  for  by  speaking  them  he  had  furnished 
an  indication  to  the  umpire  of  what  his  own 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  99 

opinion  and  his  own  interests  were  in  respect 
to  the  decision,  which  it  never  is  fair  to  do  in 
such  a  case,  when  the  other  party  is  not  present 
to  express  his  views  and  advocate  his  interests. 
The  words  once  spoken,  however,  could  not  be 
recalled. 

"Steamboats  are  certainly  not  propelled  by 
sails,"  said  the  lawyer,  "but  yet  we  often 
apply  the  word  sailing  to  them.  We  say,  for 
instance,  that  a  certain  steamer  will  sail  on 
such  or  such  a  day.  So  we  say,  There  was  no 
news  from  such  or  such  a  place  when  the 
steamer  sailed." 

"But  it  seems  to  me,"  said  Rollo,  "that  the 
question  is  not  what  people  call  it,  out  what  it 
really  is.  The  going  of  a  steamboat  is  certainly 
not  sailing,  in  any  sense. ' ' 

It  was  quite  ingenius  arguing  on  Rollo's 
part,  it  must  be  acknowledged;  but  then  it  was 
wholly  out  of  order  for  him  to  argue  the 
question  at  afll.  He  should  have  confined  him- 
self strictly  to  a  simple  statement  of  the  point, 
since,  as  his  father  was  not  present  to  defend 
his  side  of  the  question,  it  was  obviously  not 
fair  that  Rollo  should  urge  and  advocate  his. 

"It  might,  at  first  view,"  said  Mr.  Hall,  "seem 
to  be  as  you  say,  and  that  the  question  would  be 
solely  what  the  steamer  actually  does.  But, 
on  reflection,  you  will  see  that  it  is  not  exactly 
so.  Contracts  and  promises  are  made  in 
language;  and  in  making  them,  people  use 
language  as  other  people  use  it,  and  it  is  to  be 
interpreted  in  that  way.  For  instance:  sup- 
pose  a   lodging-house  keeper   in  the   country 


100  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

should  agree  to  furnish  a  lady  a  room  in  the 
summer  where  the  sun  did  not  come  in  at  all, 
and  then  should  give  her  one  on  the  south  side 
of  the  house,  which  was  intolerably  hot,  and 
should  claim  that  he  had  fulfilled  his  agreement 
because  the  sun  did  not  itself  come  into  the 
room  at  all,  but  only  shone  in ;  that  would  be  a 
good  defense.  We  must  interpret  contracts 
and  promises  according  to  the  ordinary  use 
and  custom  of  the  people  in  the  employment  of 
language. 

44 Still,"  said  Mr.  Hall,  "although  we  cer- 
tainly  do  apply  the  simple  term  sailing  to  a 
steamer,  I  hardly  think  that  a  trip  in  a  steamer 
on  a  regular  and  established  route  would  be 
called,  according  to  the  ordinary  and  estab- 
lished use  of  language,  taking  a  sail.  Was  that 
the  promise — that  one  party  would  go  with 
the  other  to  take  a  sail  on  the  lake?" 

44 Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  44he  promised  to  go 
and  take  a  sail  with  me  on  the  lake,  as  far  as  I 
wanted  to  go. ' ' 

"Then,"  said  Mr.  Hall,  44I  should  think,  on 
the  whole,  that,  in  such  a  place  as  this,  where 
there  are  so  many  regular  sail  boats,  and 
where  excursions  on  the  lake  in  them  are  so 
common  and  so  well  recognized  as  a  distinct 
amusement,  the  phrase  taking  a  sail  ought  to 
be  held  to  mean  going  in  a  sail  boat,  and  that 
making  a  voyage  in  a  steamer  would  not  be 
fulfilling  the  promise. " 

Rollo  was  extremely  delighted  in  having 
thus  gained   his  case,   and  he  went   back   to 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  101 

report  the  result  to  his  father,  in  a  state  of 
great  exultation. 

After  communicating  to  his  father  the  deci- 
sion of  the  umpire,  Rollo  said  that,  after  all, 
he  did  not  wish  to  go  in  a  sail  boat  if  his  father 
thought  it  best  to  go  in  a  steamer. 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "that  depends 
upon  how  far  we  go.  It  is  pleasant  enough  to 
go  out  a  short  distance  on  the  water  in  a  sail 
boat,  but  for  a  long  excursion  the  steamer  is 
generally  considered  much  pleasanter.  In  a 
sail  boat  you  are  down  very  low,  near  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  and  so  you  have  no  com- 
manding views.  Then  you  have  no  shelter 
either  from  the  sun,  if  it  is  clear,  or  from  the 
rain,  if  it  is  cloudy.  You  are  closely  confined, 
too,  or  at  least  you  can  move  about  only  a  very 
little ;  whereas  in  the  steamer  there  is  plenty  of 
space,  and  there  are  a  great  many  groups  of 
people,  and  little  incidents  are  constantly 
occurring  to  amuse  you. ' ' 

"Besides,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "if  you  go  in 
the  steamer,  I  can  go  with  you. '  • 

"Why,  mother,  could  not  you  go  in  a  sail 
boat,  too?" 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  "I  am  afraid  of 
sail  boats. ' 

"O  mother!"  said  Rollo;  "there  is  not  any 
danger  at  all. ' ' 

"Yes,  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  "there  is  some 
danger,  for  sail  boats  do  sometimes  upset." 

"And  steamboats  sometimes  blow  up, "  said 
Rollo. 

"True,"    said  his    father;    "but   that  only 


102  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

shows  that  there  is  danger  in  steamboats  too — 
not  that  there  is  no  danger  in  sail  boats. " 

4 'Well,  what  I  mean,"  said  Rollo,  "is,  that 
there  is  very  little  danger,  and  that  mother 
has  no  occasion  to  be  afraid. ' ' 

"There  is  very  little  danger,  I  grant,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday;  "but  there  is  just  enough  to  keep 
ladies,  who  are  less  accustomed  to  the  water 
than  we  are,  almost  all  the  time  uneasy,  and 
thus  to  destroy  for  them  the  pleasure  of  the 
excursion.  ■ ' 

"I'll  tell  you  what  I  think  will  be  the  best 
plan.  You  and  I  will  go  out  and  take  a  little 
sail  to-night  on  the  lake  in  a  sail  boat,  and 
mother  may  stay  and  watch  us  from  the  win- 
dow, as  she  reads  and  sews.  Then  to-morrow 
we  will  go  together  to  make  an  excursion  on 
the  lake." 

Rollo  liked  this  plan  very  much  indeed,  and 
his  father  sent  him  down  to  the  landing  to 
engage  the  boat.  4'I  will  come  down,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday,  "by  the  time  you  get  ready." 

So  Rollo  went  down  and  engaged  a  boat.  It 
was  rigged,  as  all  the  boats  on  the  Lake  of 
Geneva  are,  with  what  are  called  lateen  sails. 
His  father  soon  came  down,  and  they  immedi- 
ately embarked  on  board  the  boat,  and  sailed 
away  from  the  landing.  As  the  boat  moved 
away  Rollo  waved  his  handkerchief  to  his 
mother,  whom  he  saw  sitting  on  the  balcony 
of  the  hotel  waving  hers  to  him. 

Rollo  and  his  father  sailed  about  the  lake  for 
nearly  an  hour.  Mr.  Holiday  said  it  was  one 
of  the  pleasantest  sails  he  ever  had  in  his  life, 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  103 

and  that  he  was  very  glad  indeed  that  Mr.  Hall 
decided  against  him. 

He  gave  Rollo's  mother  a  full  account  of  the 
excursion  when  he  got  home. 

" The  water  was  very  smooth,"  said  he,  "and 
the  air  was  cool  and  balmy.  There  was  a 
gentle  breath  of  wind,  just  enough  to  float  us 
smoothly  and  quietly  over  the  water.  We  had 
charming  views  of  the  town  and  of  the  shores 
of  the  lake,  and  also  of  the  stupendous  ranges 
of  snow-covered  mountains  beyond." 


104  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  X. 

AN    EXCURSION    ON    THE    LAKE. 

The  Lake  of  Geneva  is  shaped,  as  has 
already  been  said,  like  the  new  moon.  One  of 
the  horns  is  toward  the  west  the  other  is 
toward  the  south.  Geneva  is  at  the  tip  of  the 
western  horn. 

Of  course,  in  sailing  from  Geneva  to  the 
other  end  of  the  lake,  we  go  from  the  west 
toward  the  east  and  this  renders  it  rather 
more  agreeable  to  make  the  excursion  by  an 
afternoon  boat  than  by  a  morning  one ;  for  in 
the  afternoon,  the  sun,  being  then  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  sky,  will  be  behind  you,  and  so 
will  not  shine  in  your  face;  but,  instead  of 
shining  in  your  face  and  dazzling  your  eyes,  it 
will  be  shining  upon  and  illuminating  brilliantly 
the  slopes  of  the  mountains  that  you  are  going 
to  see.  In  other  words,  in  the  morning  the 
mountains  are  in  shadow  and  the  sun  in  your 
eyes;  in  the  evening  your  eyes  are  shaded, 
and  the  mountains  glow  with  brilliancy  and 
beauty. 

It  is  often  very  important  to  take  notice  thus 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  sun  shines  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  day,  in  planning  excursions 
among  the  Alps. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  105 

The  middle  of  the  day  is  a  very  exciting  and 
animating  time  on  the  quay  at  Geneva.  It  is 
then  that  the  boats  which  left  the  other  end 
of  the  lake  in  the  morning  are  expected  to 
arrive;  and  a  great  concourse  of  porters, 
guides,  postilions,  and  bystanders  of  all  sorts 
assemble  to  receive  the  travelers.  As  the 
boats  come  in,  it  is  very  amusing  to  sit  on  the 
balconies,  or  at  the  windows  of  the  hotels 
which  overlook  the  quay,  and  watch  the  pro- 
cession of  tourists  as  they  come  over  the  plank 
to  land.  There  are  family  groups  consisting 
of  fathers,  mothers,  and  children,  followed  by 
porters  bearing  immense  trunks,  while  they 
themselves  are  loaded  with  shawls,  cloaks, 
umbrellas,  and  carpet  bags;  and  parties  of 
students,  with  all  their  traveling  effects  in 
knapsacks  on  their  backs ;  and  schoolboys  who 
have  been  making  a  tour  of  the  Alps  with 
their  teacher;  and  young  brides,  almost 
equally  proud  of  their  husbands,  of  the  new 
dignity  of  their  own  position,  and  of  the  gran- 
deur of  an  Alpine  bridal  tour.  All  these 
people,  and  the  hundreds  of  spectators  that 
asembles  to  see  them,  fill  the  quay,  and  form 
a  very  animated  and  exciting  spectacle. 

When  the  time  approaches  for  a  boat  to  sail, 
which  is  in  half  an  hour  after  she  arrives,  we 
have  a  counterpart  of  this  scene,  the  direction 
of  the  current  only  being  reversed.  The  tour- 
ists now  go  to  the  boat,  the  porters,  with 
their  baggage,  preceding  them.  A  soldier 
stands  at  the  entrance  to  the  plank,  to  look  at 
the  passports.      Lines  of  officials  on  each  side 


106  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

guard  the  way.  On  the  deck  of  the  steamer, 
as  soon  as  you  get  on  board,  you  find  a  great 
variety  of  picturesque  looking  groups,  all, 
however,  having  the  air  of  being  travelers  for 
pleasure.  Some  are  arranging  themselves  in 
good  seats  for  seeing  the  scenery.  Others 
take  out  their  maps  and  guide  books,  and  pre- 
pare to  read  the  descriptions  of  the  places  that 
they  are  going  to  see.  Here  and  there  children 
are  to  be  seen — the  boys  with  little  knapsacks, 
and  the  girls  wearing  very  broad-brimmed 
Swiss  hats — neither  paying  any  attention  to 
the  scenery,  but  amusing  themselves  with 
whatever  they  find  at  hand  to  play  with — 
one  with  a  little  dog,  another  with  a  doll 
which  has  been  bought  for  her  at  Geneva,  and 
a  third,  perhaps,  with  a  whip,  or  a  little 
wagon. 

Rollo  took  his  seat  by  the  side  of  his  father 
and  mother,  in  the  midst  of  such  a  scene  as 
this,  on  the  day  of  their  embarkation,  and 
occupied  himself  sometimes  by  looking  at  the 
shores  of  the  lake  and  the  mountains  beyond, 
and  sometimes  by  watching  the  movements 
and  actions  of  the  various  groups  of  tourists 
before  him.  In  the  meantime,  the  boat  left 
the  landing,  and  began  to  glide  along  rapidly 
on  her  way  over  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  shores  of  the  lake  are  very  fertile  and 
populous,  and  at  every  eight  or  ten  miles, 
especially  on  the  northern  shore,  you  come  to 
a  large  town.  The  steamboats  stop  at  these 
towns  to  take  and  leave  passengers.  They  do 
not,  in  such  cases,  usually  land  at  a  pier,  but 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  107 

the  passengers  come  and  go  in  large  boats,  and 
meet  the  steamer  at  a  little  way  from  the 
shore.  Rollo  used  to  take  great  pleasure  in 
going  forward  to  the  bows  of  the  steamer,  and 
watch  these  boats  as  they  came  out  from  the 
shore.  If  there  were  two  of  them,  they  would 
come  out  so  far  that  the  track  of  the  steamer 
should  lie  between  them,  and  then,  when  the 
steamer  stopped  her  paddles,  they  would  come 
up,  one  on  one  side  and  the  other  on  the  other, 
and  the  passengers  would  come  up  on  board 
by  means  of  a  flight  of  steps  let  down  from  the 
steamer,  just  abaft  the  paddle  boxes.  When 
the  passengers  had  thus  come  up,  the  baggage 
would  be  passed  up,  too ;  and  then  those  pas- 
sengers who  wished  to  go  ashore  at  that  place 
would  go  down  the  steps  in  the  boats,  and 
when  all  were  embarked,  the  boats  would  cast 
off  from  the  steamer,  and  the  steamer  would 
go  on  her  way  as  before.  The  boats  then 
would  row  slowly  to  the  land,  with  the  passen- 
gers in  them  that  were  to  stop  at  that  place, 

The  way  of  paying  for  one's  passage  on 
board  these  boats  was  very  different  from  that 
adopted  in  America.  There  was  no  colored 
waiter  to  go  about  the  decks  and  saloons  ring- 
ing a  bell,  and  calling  out,  in  a  loud  and 
authoritative  voice,  Passengers  who  haven't 
settled  their  fare  will  please  call  at  the  captain's 
office  and  settle.  Instead  of  this,  the  clerk  of 
the  boat  came  himself,  after  each  landing,  to 
the  new  passengers  that  had  come  on  board  at 
that  landing,  and,  touching  his  hat  to  them, 
in  the  most  polite  manner,  asked  them  to  what 


108  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

place  they  wished  to  go.  He  had  a  little  slate 
in  his  hand,  with  the  names  of  all  the  towns 
where  the  steamer  was  to  touch  marked  upon 
it.  As  the  several  passengers  to  whom  he  ap- 
plied gave  him  the  name  of  the  place  of  their 
destination,  he  made  a  mark  opposite  to  the 
name  of  the  place  on  his  slate.  When  he  had 
in  this  way  applied  to  all  the  new  comers,  he 
went  to  the  office  and  provided  himself  with 
the  proper  number  of  tickets  for  each  place, 
and  then  went  round  again  to  distribute  them. 
In  going  around  thus  a  second  time,  to  distri- 
bute the  tickets,  he  took  a  cash  box  with  him 
to  make  change.  This  cash  box  was  slung  be- 
fore him  by  means  of  a  strap  about  the  neck. 

"How  much  more  polite  and  agreeable  a 
mode  this  is  of  collecting  the  fares,"  said 
Mrs.  Holiday  to  her  husband,  "than  ours  in 
America!  There  a  boy  comes  around,  ding- 
ing a  bell  in  everybody's  ears,  and  then  the 
gentlemen  have  to  go  in  a  crowd  and  elbow 
their  way  up  to  the  window  of  the  captain's 
office.  I  wish  we  could  have  some  of  these 
polite  and  agreeable  customs  introduced  into 
our  country. ' ' 

M They  are  very  agreeable,"  said  Mr.  Holi- 
day, 4 '  and  are  very  suitable  for  pleasure  travel 
like  this,  where  the  boats  are  small,  and  the 
number  of  passengers  few ;  but  I  presume  it 
would  be  very  difficult  to  collect  the  fares  in 
this  way  on  a  North  River  steamer,  where 
there  are  sometimes  a  thousand  passengers  on 
board.  Here  there  are  usually  not  more  than 
eight  or  ten  passengers  that  come  on  board  at 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  109 

a  time,  and  they  mix  with  only  fifty  or  sixty 
that  were  on  board  before.  But  in  America 
we  often  have  fifty  or  sixty  come  on  board  at 
a  time,  and  they  mix  with  eight  hundred  or  a 
thousand.  In  such  a  case  as  that  I  think  that 
this  plan  would  be  well  nigh   impracticable." 

"I  did  not  think  of  that,"  said  Mrs.  Holi- 
day. 

"The  difference  between  the  circumstances 
of  the  case  in  Europe  and  in  America  is  very 
often  not  thought  of  by  travelers  who  find 
themselves  wishing  that  the  European  cus- 
toms in  respect  to  traveling  and  the  hotels 
could  be  introduced  into  our  country.  In 
Europe  the  number  of  travelers  is  compara- 
tively small,  and  a  very  large  proportion  of 
those  who  make  journeys  go  for  pleasure. 
The  arrangements  can  all,  consequently,  be 
made  to  save  them  trouble,  and  to  make  the 
journey  agreeable  to  them ;  and  the  price  is 
increased  accordingly.  In  America,  people 
travel  on  business,  and  they  go  in  immense 
numbers.  Their  main  object  is,  to  be  taken 
safely  and  expeditiously  to  the  end  of  their 
journey,  and  at  as  little  expense  as  possible. 
The  arrangements  of  the  conveyances  and  of 
the  hotels  are  all  made  accordingly.  The  con- 
sequence is,  a  vast  difference  in  the  expense  of 
traveling,  and  a  corresponding  difference,  of 
course,  to  some  extent,  in  ease  and  comfort. 
The  price  of  passage,  for  instance,  in  the 
Geneva  steamboats,  from  one  end  of  the  lake 
to  the  other,  a  distance  of  about  fifty  miles,  is 
two  dollars,  without  berth  or  meals ;  whereas 


110  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

you  can  go  from  New  York  to  Albany,  which 
is  more  than  three  times  as  far,  for  half  a  dol- 
lar. This  difference  is  owing  to  the  number 
of  travelers  that  go  in  the  American  boats, 
and  the  wholesale  character,  so  to  speak,  of 
the  arrangements  made  for  them. 

44  In  other  words,  the  passengers  in  a  public 
conveyance  in  Europe  are  not  only  conveyed 
from  place  to  place,  but  they  are  waited  upon 
by  the  way,  and  they  have  to  pay  both  for  the 
conveyance  and  the  attendance.  In  America 
they  are  only  conveyed,  and  are  left  to  wait 
upon  themselves;  and  they  are  charged  accord- 
ingly. Each  plan  is  good,  and  each  is  adapted 
to  the  wants  and  ideas  of  the  countries  that 
respectively  adopt  them. ' ' 

4 'Shall  we  go  to  the  end  of  the  lake  to-day?" 
said  Mr.  Holiday,  44or  only  part  of  the  way? 
The  clerk  will  come  pretty  soon  to  ask  us." 

44  Are  there  any  pretty  places  to  stop  at  on 
the  way?"  asked  Mrs.  Holiday. 

"Yes,"  said  her  husband;  44all  the  places 
are  pretty. ' ' 

4 'Tell  us  about  some  of  them,"  said  Rollo. 

44 First  there  is  Lausanne,"  said  his  father. 
44  Lausanne  is  a  large  town  up  among  the  hills, 
a  mile  or  two  from  the  water.  There  is  a  little 
port,  called  Ouchy,  on  the  shore,  where  the 
steamer  stops.  There  there  is  a  landing  and 
a  pier,  and  some  pretty  boarding  houses,  with 
gardens  and  grounds  around  them,  and  a 
large,  old-fashioned  inn,  built  like  a  castle  of 
the  middle  ages,  but  kept  very  nicely.  We 
can   stop    there,  and  go  up  in  an  omnibus  to 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  Ill 

Lausanne,  which  is  a  large,  old  town,  two 
miles  up  the  side  of  the  mountain. 

"Then,  secondly,"  continued  Mr.  Holiday, 
" there  is  Vevay,  which  is  famous  for  a  new 
and  fashionable  hotel  facing  the  lake,  with  a 
beautiful  terrace  between  it  and  the  water, 
where  you  can  sit  on  nice  benches  under  the 
trees,  and  watch  the  steamers  going  by  over 
the  blue  waters  of  the  lake,  or  the  row  boats 
and  sail  boats  coming  and  going  about  the  ter- 
race landing,  or  the  fleecy  clouds  floating  along 
the  sides  of  the  dark  mountains  around  the 
head  of  the  lake." 

"I  should  like  to  stop  at  both  places,"  said 
Mrs.  Holiday. 

4  *  Then  we  will  stop  at  Ouchy  to-night,"  said 
Mr   Holiday,  "for  that  comes  first." 

So  it  was  decided  that  they  should  take 
tickets  for  Ouchy. 

The  boat  at  Ouchy  did  not  land  passengers 
by  boats,  but  went  up  to  the  pier.  Only  a 
few  passengers  went  ashore.  The  pier  was  at 
some  little  distance  from  the  hotel,  the  way  to 
it  being  by  a  quiet  and  pleasant  walk  along 
the  shore. 

There  was  an  omnibus  marked  Lausanne 
standing  at  the  head  of  the  pier. 

"Now,  we  can  get  into  the  omnibus,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday,  "and  go  directly  up  to  Lausanne, 
or  we  can  go  to  the  hotel  here,  and  take 
lodgings,  and  then  go  up  to  Lausanne  to  see 
the  town  after  dinner.  " 

It  was  at  this  time  about  four  o'clock.     The 


112  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

usual  time  of  dinner  for  travelers  in  Switzer- 
land is  five. 

Mrs.  Holiday,  observing  that  the  hotel  at 
Ouchy  was  very  prettily  situated,  close  to  the 
water,  and  recollecting  that  her  husband  had 
said  that  it  resembled  in  its  character  a  castle 
of  the  middle  ages,  concluded  that  she  would 
like  as  well  to  take  rooms  there. 

A  woman  with  a  queer-shaped  basket  on  her 
back,  which  she  carried  by  means  of  straps 
over  her  shoulders,  here  came  up  to  Mr.  Holi- 
day, and  asked  if  she  should  take  the  baggages 
to  the  inn.  Mr.  Holiday  said  yes.  So  she  put 
the  valise  and  the  carpet  bag  into  her  basket, 
and  walked  away  with  them  to  the  inn. 

Women  often  act  as  porters  in  France  and 
Switzerland,  and  they  perform,  also,  all  sorts 
of  out-door  work.  They  use  these  baskets, 
too,  very  often,  for  carrying  burdens.  Rollo 
afterward  saw  a  woman  take  her  child  out  to 
ride  in  one  of  them. 

Mrs.  Holiday  was  extremely  pleased  with 
the  inn  at  Ouchy.  She  said  that  she  should 
like  to  remain  there  a  week.  It  seemed 
precisely,  with  its  antique-looking  rooms,  and 
long  stone  paved  corridors,  like  the  castles 
which  she  had  read  about  when  she  was  a  girl 
in  the  old  romances. 

After  dinner,  Mr.  Holiday  sent  for  a  car- 
riage, and  took  Mrs.  Holiday  and  Rollo  to 
ride.  They  went  up  the  ascent  of  land  behind 
the  town,  the  road  winding  as  it  went  among 
green  and  beautiful  glades  and  dells,  but  still 
always  ascending  until  they  came  to  Lausanne. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  113 

This  was  nearly  two  miles  from  the  lake,  and 
very  much  above  it.  From  Lausanne  they 
went  back  still  farther,  ascending  all  the  time, 
and  obtaining  more  and  more  commanding 
views  of  the  lake  at  every  turn. 

When  the  sun  went  down,  they  turned  their 
faces  homeward.  They  came  down,  of  course, 
very  fast,  the  road  winding  continually  this 
way  and  that,  to  make  the  descent  more 
gradual.  At  length,  about  half  past  eight 
they  returned  to  the  inn. 

The  landlady  of  the  inn,  who  was  very  kind 
and  obliging  to  them,  took  them  to  see  a  room 
in  her  hotel  where  Lord  Byron  wrote  his  cele- 
brated poem  entitled  the  Prisoner  of  Chillon. 

Chillon  is  an  ancient  castle  which  stands  on 
the  shore,  twenty  or  thirty  miles  beyond,  and 
very  near,  in  fact,  to  the  extremity  of  the 
lake.  Byron  has  made  this  castle  renowned 
throughout  the  world  by  spending  a  few  days, 
while  he  was  stopped  at  this  inn  at  Ouchy  by 
a  storm,  when  traveling  on  the  lake,  in  writing 
a  poem  in  which  he  describes  the  emotions 
and  sufferings  of  some  imaginary  prisoners 
whom  he  supposed  to  be  confined  there. 

"Can  we  go  and  see  the  Castle  of  Chillon?" 
said  Mrs.  Holiday. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday.  "We  shall  sail 
directly  by  it  in  going  to  the  head  of  the  lake, 
and  if  we  stop  there  we  can  go  to  it  verv 
easily."  J 

The  head  of  the  lake— that  is,  the  eastern 
end  of  it— is  surrounded  with  mountains,  the 
slopes  of   which  seem  to  rise  very  abruptly 

8   Geneva 


114  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

from  the  water,  and  ascend  to  such  a  height 
that  patches  of  snow  lie  on  the  summits  of 
them  all  the  summer.  These  mountains,  espe- 
ically  if  overshadowed  by  clouds,  give  a  very 
dark  and  sombre  expression  to  the  whole 
region  when  seen  from  a  distance,  in  coming 
in  from  the  center  of  the  lake.  This  sombre 
expression,  however,  entirely  disappears  when 
you  arrive  at  the  head  of  the  lake,  and  land 
there. 

You  would  not  suppose,  when  viewing  these 
shores  from  a  distance,  that  there  was  any 
place  to  land,  so  closely  do  the  precipitous 
slopes  of  the  mountains  seem  to  shut  the 
water  in.  But  on  drawing  near  the  shore, 
you  see  that  there  is  a  pretty  broad  belt  of  land 
along  the  shore,  which,  though  it  ascends  rap- 
idly, is  not  too  steep  to  be  cultivated.  This 
belt  of  land  is  covered  with  villages,  hamlets, 
vineyards,  orchards,  and  gardens,  and  it 
forms  a  most  enchanting  series  of  landscapes, 
from  whatever  point  it  is  seen,  while  the  more 
precipitous  slopes  of  the  mountains,  towering 
above  in  grandeur  and  sublimity  complete  the 
enchantment  of  the  view. 

The  Castle  of  Chillon  stands  on  the  very 
margin  of  the  lake,  just  in  the  edge  of  the 
water.  Indeed,  the  foundations  on  which  it 
stands  form  a  little  island,  which  is  separated 
by  a  narrow  channel  from  the  shore.  This 
channel  is  crossed  by  a  drawbridge.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  it  may  be  in  some  mea- 
sure artificial.  The  island  may  have  originally 
been  a  small  rocky  point,   and  it  may  have 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  115 

been  made  an  island  by  the  cutting  of  a  ditch 
between  it  and  the  main  land. 

The  steamer  passed  along  the  shore,  very 
near  to  this  castle,  in  going  to  the  head  of  the 
lake.  There  is  no  steamboat  landing  at  the 
castle  itself,  but  there  is  one  at  the  village  of 
Montreux,  a  little  before  you  come  to  it,  and 
another  at  Villeneuve,  a  little  beyond.  Num- 
bers of  tourists  come  in  every  steamer  to  visit 
the  castle,  and  stop  for  this  purpose  at  one  of 
these  landings  or  the  other.  The  distance  is 
only  twenty  minutes'  brisk  walking  from 
either  of  them. 

Villeneuve,  the  last  landing  mentioned 
above,  is  at  the  very  extremity  of  the  lake. 
Here  travelers  who  are  going  to  continue  their 
journey  up  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  either  for 
the  purpose  of  penetrating  into  the  heart  of 
Switzerland,  or  of  going  by  the  pass  of  the 
Simplon  into  Italy,  leave  the  boat  and  take  the 
diligence  to  continue  their  journey  by  land, 
or  else  engage  a  private  carriage,  and  also  a 
guide,  if  they  wish  for  one.  Mr.  Holiday  did 
not  intend  at  this  time  to  go  on  far  up  the 
valley,  but  he  proposed  to  stop  a  day  or  two  at 
Villeneuve,  to  visit  Chillon,  and  perhaps  make 
some  other  excursions,  and  also  to  enjoy  the 
views  presented  there?,  on  all  sides,  of  the 
slopes  and  summits  of  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains. 


116  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


VILLENEUVE. 


At  Villeneuve,  a  pretty  long,  though  small 
and  very  neatly  made  pier  projects  out  from 
the  shore  for  the  landing  of  passengers  from 
the  steamer. 

Exactly  opposite  this  pier,  and  facing  the 
water,  stands  the  inn.  It  is  placed  very  nearly 
on  a  level  with  the  water.  This  can  always 
be  the  case  with  buildings  standing  on  the 
margin  of  a  lake,  for  a  lake  not  being  subject 
to  tides  or  inundations,  all  buildings,  whether 
houses,  bridges,  or  piers,  may  be  built  very 
near  the  water,  without  any  danger  of  being 
overflowed. 

Before  the  inn  is  an  open  space,  extending 
between  it  and  the  shore;  so  that  from  the 
front  windows  of  the  inn  you  can  look  down 
first  upon  this  open  space,  and  beyond,  upon 
the  margin  of  the  lake  and  upon  the  pier, 
with  the  steamer  lying  at  the  landing-place  at 
the  head  of  it. 

The  sides  of  this  square,  Rollo  observed, 
were  formed  of  the  ends  of  two  buildings 
which  stood  on  the  shore,  and  along  this 
space  were  wooden  benches,  which  were  filled, 
when  the  steamer  arrived,  with  guides,  pos- 
tilions,   voituriers,    and   other  people   of  that 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  117 

class,  waiting  to  be  engaged  by  the  travelers 
that  should  come  in  her. 

There  were  also  two  or  three  omnibuses  and 
diligences  waiting  to  receive  such  persons  as 
were  intending  to  travel  by  the  public  convey- 
ances. One  of  these  omnibuses  belonged  to  a 
large  hotel  and  boarding  house  which  stands 
on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  not  far  from  Ville- 
neuve,  between  it  and  the  Castle  of  Chillon. 
This  hotel  is  beautifully  situated  in  a  com- 
manding position  on  the  shores  of  the  lake, 
and  is  a  great  place  of  resort  for  English  fam- 
ilies in  the  summer  season. 

The  travelers  that  landed  from  the  steamer 
at  Villeneuve  soon  separated,  after  arriving  at 
the  open  square  before  the  inn.  Some  took 
their  seats  in  the  diligences  that  were  standing 
there;  some  got  into  the  omnibuses  to  goto 
the  hotel ;  some  engaged  voituriers  from  among 
the  number  that  were  waiting  there  to  be  so 
employed,  and,  entering  the  carriages,  they 
drove  away;  while  a  party  of  students,  wiih 
knapsacks  on  their  backs  and  pikestaves  in 
their  hands,  set  off  on  foot  up  the  valley.  Mr. 
Holiday  and  his  party,  not  intending  to  pro- 
ceed any  farther  that  night,  went  directly  to 
the  inn. 

They  went  first  into  the  dining  room.  The 
dining  toom  in  the  Swiss  inns  is  usually  the 
only  public  room,  and  travelers  on  entering  the 
inn  generally  go  directly  there. 

The  dining  room  was  very  plain  and  simple 
in  all  its  arrangements.  There  was  no  carpet 
on  the  floor,  and  the  woodwork  was  unpainted. 


118  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

There  ,were  two  windows  in  front,  which 
looked  out  upon  the  lake.  Directly  beneath 
the  windows  was  the  road,  and  the  open  space, 
already  described,  between  the  hotel  and  the 
pier. 

There  was  a  boy  with  a  knapsack  on  his  back 
standing  by  the  window,  looking  out.  Rollo 
went  to  the  window,  and  began  to  look  out,  too. 

"Do  you  speak  English?"  said  Rollo  to  the 
boy. 

"Nein,"  said  the  boy,  shaking  his  head. 

Nein  is  the  German  word  for  no.  This  Rollo 
knew  very  well,  and  so  he  inferred  that  the  boy 
was  a  German.  He,  however,  thought  it  pos- 
sible that  he  might  speak  French,  and  so  he 
asked  again, — 

"Do  you  speak  French?" 

"Very  little,"  said  the  boy,  answering  now 
in  the  French  language.  "I  am  studying  it 
at  school.  I  am  at  school  at  Berne,  and  my 
class  is  making  an  excursion  to  Geneva. ' ' 

"Do  you  travel  on  foot?"  asked  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  the  boy;  "unless  there  is  a 
steamboat,  and  then  we  go  in  the  steam- 
boat. ' ' 

"And  I  suppose  you  are  going  to  take  the 
steamboat  here  to-morrow  morning  to  go  to 
Geneva. ' 

"No,"  said  the  boy;  "we  are  going  to  see 
Chillon  to-night,  and  then  we  are  going  along 
the  shore  of  the  lake  beyond,  to  Montreux, 
and  take  the  boat  there  to-morrow  morning." 

It  was  quite  amusing  to  Rollo  to  talk  thus 
with  a  strange  boy  in  a  language  which  both 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  119 

had  learned  at  school,  and  which  neither  of 
them  could  speak  well,  but  which  was,  never- 
theless, the  only  language  they  had  in  com- 
mon. 

"  How  many  boys  are  there  in  your  class?" 
asked  Rollo. 

"Sixteen,"  said  the  boy;  "sixteen  —  six." 
The  boy  then  held  up  the  five  fingers  of  one 
hand,  and  one  of  the  other,  to  show  Rollo  that 
six  was  was  the  number  he  meant.  The 
words  six  and  sixteen  are  very  similar  in  the 
French  language,  and  for  a  moment  the  boy 
confounded  them. 

"And  the  teacher,  too,  I  suppose,"  said 
Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  the  boy,  "and  the  teacher." 

Here  there  was  a  short  pause. 

"Are  you  going  to  Chillon?"  said  the  boy  to 
Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  Rollo.  "I  am  going  with  my 
father  and  mother. ' ' 

"I  wish  you  were  going  with  us,"  said  the 
boy. 

"I  wish  so,  too,"  said  Rollo;  "I  mean  to  ask 
my  father  to  let  me. " 

During  this  time  Mr.  Holiday  had  been  mak- 
ing an  arrangement  with  the  maid  of  the  inn 
for  two  bedrooms,  one  for  himself  and  his 
wife,  and  the  other  for  Rollo;  and  the  maid 
was  now  just  going  to  show  the  party  the  way 
to  their  rooms.  So  Rollo  went  with  his 
father,  and  after  seeing  that  all  their  effects 
were  put  in  the  rooms,  he  informed  his 
father  that  he  had  made  acquaintance  with  a 


120  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

young  German  schoolbo}?-  who  was  going  with 
his  class  and  the  teacher  to  visit  Chillon ;  and 
he  asked  his  father's  consent  that  he  might  go 
with  them. 

44 1  can  walk  therewith  them,"  said  Rollo, 
44 and  wait  there  till  you  and  mother  come." 

4 'Does  the  boy  speak  English?"  asked  Mr. 
Holiday. 

44No,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "but  he  can  speak 
French  a  little.  He  speaks  it  just  about  as 
well  as  I  can,  and  we  can  get  along  together 
very  well. ' ' 

44 Is  the  teacher  willing  that  you  should  go?" 
asked  Mr.  Holiday. 

44I  don't  know,"  said  Rollo;  "we  have  not 
asked  him  yet. " 

.  44Then  the  first  thing  is  to  ask  him,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday.  44Let  your  friend  ask  the  teacher 
if  he  is  willing  to  have  another  boy  invited 
to  go  with  his  party;  and  if  he  is  willing,  you 
may  go.  If  you  get  to  Chillon  first,  you  may 
go  about  the  castle  with  the  boys,  and  then 
wait  at  the  castle  gates  till  we  come. ' ' 

4 'How  soon  shall  you  come?"  asked  Rollo. 

44 Very  soon,"  said  Mr.  Holiday.  4tI  have 
ordered  the  carriage  already,  and  we  shall  per- 
haps get  there  as  soon  as  do  you/' 

So  Rollo  went  downstairs  again  to  his 
friend,  the  German  boy. 

44 Do  you  think,"  said  Rollo,  44that  the 
teacher  would  be  willing  to  have  me  go  with 
you?" 

44 Yes,"  said  the  boy,  44I  am  sure  he  will. 
He  is  always  very  glad  to  have  us  meet  with 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  121 

an  opportunity  to  speak  French.  Besides, 
there  are  some  boys  in  the  school  who  are 
learning  English,  and  he  would  like  to  have 
you  talk  a  little  with  them." 

"Go  and  ask  him,"  said  Rollo. 

So  the  boy  went  off  to  ask  the  teacher.  He 
met  him  on  the  stairs,  coming  down  with  the 
rest  of  the  boys.  The  teacher  was  very  much 
pleased  with  the  plan  of  having  an  American 
boy  invited  to  join  the  party,  and  so  it  was 
settled  that  Rollo  was  to  go. 

The  boys  all  went  downstairs,  and  rendez- 
voused at  the  door  of  the  inn.  Most  of  the 
omnibuses  and  diligences  had  gone.  The 
boys  of  the  school  all  accosted  Rollo  in  a  very 
cordial  manner ;  and  the  teacher  shook  hands 
with  him,  and  said  fhat  he  was  very  glad  to 
have  him  join  their  party.  The  teacher  spoke 
to  him  in  French.  There  were  two  other  boys 
who  tried  to  speak  to  him  in  English.  They 
succeeded  pretty  well,  but  they  could  not 
speak  very  fluently,  and  they  made  several 
mistakes.  But  Rollo  was  very  careful  not  to 
laugh  at  their  mistakes,  and  they  did  not 
laugh  at  those  which  he  made  in  talking 
French;  and  so  they  all  got  along  very  well 
together. 

Thus  they  set  out  on  the  road  Mhich  led 
along  the  shore  of  the  lake  toward  the  JCastle 
of  Chillon. 


122  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  CASTLE  OF  CHILLON. 

The  party  of  boys  walked  along  the  road 
very  pleasantly  together,  each  one  with  his 
knapsack  on  his  back,  and  his  pikestaff  in  his 
hand.  Rollo  talked  with  them  by  the  way — 
with  some  in  English,  and  with  others  in 
French;  but  inasmuch  as  it  happened  that 
whichever  language  was  used,  one  or  the  other 
of  the  parties  to  the  conversation  was  very  im- 
perfectly acquainted  with  it,  the  conversation 
was  necessarily  carried  on  by  means  of  very 
short  and  simple  sentences,  and  the  meaning 
was  often  helped  out  by  signs  and  gestures, 
and  curious  pantomimie  of  all  sorts,  with  an 
accompaniment,  of  course,  of  continual  peals 
of  laughter. 

Rollo,  however,  learned  a  good  deal  about 
the  boys,  and  about  the  arrangements  they 
made  for  traveling,  and  also  learned  a  great 
many  particulars  in  respect  to  the  adventures 
they  had  met  with  in  coming  over  the  moun- 
tains. 

Rollo  learned,  for  example,  that  every  boy 
had  a  fishing  line  in  his  knapsack,  and  that 
when  they  got  tired  of  walking,  and  wished  to 
stop  to  rest,  if  there   was  a  good  place>  they 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  123 

stopped  and  fished  a  little  while  in  a  mountain 
stream  or  a  lake. 

Another  thing  they  did  was  to  watch  for  but- 
terflies, in  order  to  catch  any  new  species  that 
they  might  find,  to  add  to  the  teacher's  cabinet 
of  natural  history.  For  this  purpose  one  of  the 
boys  had  a  gauze  net  on  the  end  of  a  long  but 
light  handle;  and  when  a  butterfly  came  in 
sight  that  seemed  at  all  curious  or  new,  one  of 
the  boys  set  off  with  the  rest  to  catch  him.  If 
the  specimen  was  found  valuable,  it  was  pre- 
served. The  specimens  thus  kept  were  se- 
cured with  a  pin  in  the  bottom  of  a  broad,  but 
flat  and  very  light  box,  which  one  of  the  older 
boys  carried  with  his  knapsack.  The  boy 
opened  this  box,  and  showed  Rollo  the  butter- 
flies which  they  had  taken.  They  had  quite  a 
pretty  collection.  There  were  several  that 
Rollo  did  not  recollect  ever  to  have  seen  be- 
fore. 

Talking  in  this  way,  they  went  on  till  they 
came  to  the  part  of  the  road  which  was  oppo- 
site to  the  Hotel  Byron.  The  hotel  was  on  an 
eminence  above  the  road,  and  back  from  the 
lake.  Broad  graveled  avenues  led  up  to  it. 
There  were  also  winding  walks,  and  seats  un- 
der the  trees  and  terraces,  and  gardens,  and 
parties  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  walking  about, 
and  children  playing  here  and  there,  under  the 
charge  of  their  nurses. 

The  boys  gave  only  a  passing  glance  at  these 
things  as  they  went  by.  They  were  much' 
more  interested  in  gazing  up  from  time  to  time 
at  the  stupendous  cliffs  and  precipices  which 


!24  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

they  saw  crowning  the  mountain  ranges  which 
seemed  to  border  the  road ;  and  on  the  other 
side,  in  looking  out  far  over  the  water  of  the 
lake  at  the  sail  boats,  or  the  steamer,  or  the 
little  row  boats  which  they  beheld  in  the  offing. 

The  road  went  winding  on,  following  the  lit- 
tle indentations  of  the  shore,  till  at  length  it 
reached  the  castle.  It  passed  close  under  the 
castle  walls,  or,  rather,  close  along  the  margin 
of  the  ditch  which  separated  the  foundations 
of  the  castle  from  the  main  land.  There  was 
a  bridge  across  this  ditch.  This  bridge  was 
enclosed,  and  a  little  room  was  built  upon  it, 
with  windows  and  a  door.  The  outer  door  was, 
of  course,  toward  the  road,  and  it  was  open 
when  the  boys  arrived  at  the  place. 

The  teacher  led  the  way  in  by  this  door,  and 
the  boys  followed  him.  There  was  a  man 
there,  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  a  soldier.  He 
was  a  sort  of  sentinel  to  keep  the  door  of  the 
castle.  He  had  a  table  on  one  side,  with  vari- 
ous engravings  spread  out  upon  it,  represent- 
ing different  views  of  the  castle,  both  of  the 
interior  and  of  the  exterior.  There  were  also 
little  books  of  description,  giving  an  account 
of  the  castle  and  of  its  history,  and  copies  of 
Byron's  poem,  the  Prisoner  of  Chillon.  All 
these  things  were  for  sale  to  the  visitors  who 
should  come  to  see  the  castle. 

The  engravings  were  kept  from  being  blown 
away  by  the  wind  by  means  of  little  stone 
paper  weights  made  of  rounded  pebble  stones, 
about  as  large  as  the  palm  of  the  hand,  with 
views  of  the  castle  and  of  the  surrounding  seen- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  125 

ery  painted  on  them.  The  paper  weights  were 
for  sale,  too. 

The  boys  looked  at  these  things  a  moment, 
but  did  not  seem  to  pay  much  attention  to 
them.  They  walked  on,  following  their  teach- 
er to  the  end  of  the  bridge  room,  where  they 
came  to  the  great  castle  gates.  These  were 
open,  too,  and  they  went  in.  They  found 
themselves  in  a  paved  courtyard,  with  towers, 
and  battlements,  and  lofty  walls  all  around 
them.  There  was  a  man  there,  waiting  to  re- 
ceive them  in  charge,  and  show  them  into  the 
dungeons. 

He  led  the  way  through  a  door,  and  thence 
down  a  flight  of  stone  steps  to  a  series  of  sub- 
terranean chambers,  which  were  very  dimly 
lighted  by  little  windows  opening  toward  the 
lake.  The  back  sides  of  the  rooms  consisted 
of  the  living  rock ;  the  front  sides  were  formed 
of  the  castle  wall  that  bordered  the  lake. 

" Here  is  the  room,"  said  the  guide,  "where 
the  prisoners  who  were  condemned  to  death  in 
the  castle  in  former  times  spent  the  last  night 
before  their  execution.  That  stone  was  the 
bed  where  they  had  to  lie." 

So  saying,  the  guide  pointed  to  a  broad, 
smooth,  and  sloping  surface  of  rock,  which 
was  formed  by  the  ledge  on  the  back  side  of 
the  dungeon.  The  stone  was  part  of  the  solid 
ledge,  and  was  surrounded  with  ragged  crags, 
just  as  they  had  been  left  by  the  excavators  in 
making  the  dungeon;  but  whether  the  smooth 
and  sloping  surface  of  this  particular  portion 
of  the  rock   was  natural  or  artificial,   that  is, 


126  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

whether  it  had  been  expressly  made  so  to  form 
a  bed  for  the  poor  condemned  criminal,  or 
whether  the  rock  had  accidentally  broken  into 
that  form  by  means  of  some  natural  fissure, 
and  so  had  been  appropriated  by  the  governor 
of  the  castle  to  that  use,  the  boys  could  not 
determine. 

The  guide  led  the  boys  a  little  farther  on, 
to  a  place  where  there  was  a  dark  recess,  and 
pointing  up  toward  the  ceiling,  he  said : 

"There  is  where  the  criminals  were  hung. 

Up  where  I  point  there  is  a  beam  built  into 
the  rock;  and  from  that  the  rope  was  sus- 
pended." 

The  boys  all  crowded  round  the  spot,  and 
looked  eagerly  up,  but  they  could  not  see  any 
beam. 

"You  cannot  see  it,"  said  the  guide,  "now, 
becaiise  you  have  just  come  out  from  the  light 
of  day.  We  shall  come  back  this  way  pretty 
soon,  and  then  you  will  be  able  to  see  it ;  for 
your  eyes  will  then  get  accustomed  a  little  to 
the  darkness  of  the  dungeon. " 

So  the  guide  went  on,  and  the  boys  followed 
him. 

They  next  came  into  a  very  large  apartment. 
The  front  side  and  the  back  side  of  it  were 
both  curved.  The  back  side  consisted  of  the 
living  rock.  The  front  side  was  formed  of  the 
outer  castle  wall,  which  was  built  on  the  rock 
at  the  very  margin  of  the  water.  In  the  cen- 
ter was  a  range  of  seven  massive  stone  col- 
umns, placed  there  to  support  the  arches  on 
which  rested  the  floor  of  the  principal  story  of 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  127 

the  castle  above.  The  roof  of  this  dungeon,  of 
course,  was  vaulted,  the  arches  and  groins  be- 
ing carried  over  from  this  range  of  central  pil- 
lars toward  the  wall  in  front,  and  toward  the 
solid  rock  behind.  All  this  you  will  plainly 
see  represented  in  the  engraving. 

This  great  dungeon  was  lighted  by  means  of 
very  small  loopholes  cut  in  the  wall,  high  up 
from  the  floor.  The  light  from  these  windows, 
instead  of  coming  down,  and  shining  upon  the 
floor,  seemed  to  go  up,  and  to  lose  itself  in  a 
faint  attempt  to  illuminate  the  vaulted  roof 
above.  The  reason  was,  that  at  the  particular 
hour  when  the  boys  made  their  visit,  the  beams 
of  the  sun  which  shone  directly  from  it  in  the 
sky  were  excluded,  and  only  those  that  were 
reflected  upward  from  the  waters  of  the  lake 
could  come  in. 

The  guide  led  the  boys  to  one  of  the  central 
pillars,  and  pointed  to  an  iron  ring  which  was 
built  into  the  stone.  He  told  them  that  there 
was  the  place  where  one  prisoner  was  confined 
in  the  dungeon  for  six  years.  He  was  chained 
to  that  ring  by  a  short  chain,  which  enabled 
him  only  to  walk  to  and  fro  a  few  steps  each 
way  about  the  pillar.  These  steps  had  worn  a 
place  in  the  rock. 

After  the  boys  had  looked  at  this  pillar,  and 
at  the  iron  ring,  and  at  the  place  worn  in  the 
floor  by  the  footsteps  of  the  prisoner,  as  long 
as  they  wished,  they  followed  the  guide  on  to 
the  end  of  the  dungeon,  where  they  were 
stopped  by  the  solid  rock.  Here  the  guide 
brought  them  to  a  dark  and  gloomy  place  in  a 


128  ROLLO  IN   GENEVA. 

corner,  where,  by  standing  a  little  back,  they 
could  see  all  the  pillars  in  a  row ;  and  he  said 
that  if  they  would  count  them  they  would  find 
that  there  were  exactly  seven.  The  boys  did 
so,  and  they  found  that  there  were  seven ;  but 
they  did  not  understand  why  the  number  was 
of  any  importance.  But  the  teacher  explained 
it  to  them.  He  said  that  Byron  had  men- 
tioned seven  as  the  number  of  the  pillars  in  his 
poem,  and  that  most  people  who  had  read  the 
poem  were  pleased  to  observe  the  correspond- 
ence between  his  description  and  the  reality. 
The  teacher  quoted  the  lines.  They  were 
these : 

"In  Chillon's  dungeons,  deep  and  old, 

There  are  seven -columns,  massy  and  gray, 

Dim  with  a  dull,  imprisoned  ray — 

A  sunbeam  that  hath  lost  its  way, 

And  through  the  crevice  and  the  cleft 

Of  the  thick  wall  is  fallen  and  left 

Creeping  o'er  the  floor  so  damp, 

Like  a  marsh's  meteor  lamp." 

In  repeating  these  lines,  the  teacher  spoke 
in  a  strong  foreign  accent.  All  the  boys  lis- 
tened attentively  while  he  spoke,  though,  of 
course,  only  Rollo  and  those  of  the  boys  who 
had  studied  English  could  understand  him. 

After  this  the  boys  came  back  through  the 
whole  range  of  dungeons,  by  the  same  way 
that  they  had  come  in.  They  could  now  see 
the  beam  from  which  the  condemned  crim- 
inals were  hung.  It  passed  across  from  rock 
to  rock,  high  above  their  heads,  in  a  dark  and 
gloomy  place,  and  seemed  perfectly  black  with 
age. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  129 

When  the  party  came  out  of  the  dungeons, 
a  young  woman  took  them  in  charge,  to  show 
them  the  apartments  above.  She  conducted 
them  up  a  broad  flight  of  stone  stairs  to  a  mas- 
sive doorway,  which  led  to  the  principal  story 
of  the  castle.  Here  the  boys  passed  through 
one  after  another  of  several  large  halls,  which 
were  formerly  used  for  various  purposes  when 
the  castle  was  inhabited,  but  are  employed  now 
for  the  storage  of  brass  cannons,  and  of  ammu- 
nition belonging  to  the  Swiss  government. 
When  the  castle  was  built,  the  country  in  which 
it  stands  belonged  to  a  neighboring  state, 
called  Savoy;  and  it  was  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
who  was  a  sort  of  king,  that  built  it,  and  it 
was ,  he  that  confined  the  prisoners  in  it  so 
cruelly.  Many  of  them  were  confined  there  on 
account  of  being  accused  of  conspiring  against 
his  government.  At  length,  however,  the  war 
broke  out  between  Switzerland  and  Savoy,  and 
the  Swiss  were  victorious.  They  besieged  this 
castle  by  an  army  on  the  land  and  by  a  fleet  of 
galleys  on  the  lake,  and  in  due  time  they  took 
it.  They  let  all  the  prisoners  which  they 
found  confined  there  go  free,  and  since  then 
they  have  used  the  castle  as  a  place  of  storage 
for  arms  and  ammunition. 

One  of  the  halls  which  the  boys  went  into, 
the  guide  said,  used  to  be  a  senate  house,  and 
another  was  the  court  room  where  the  prison- 
ers were  tried.  There  was  a  staircase  which 
led  from  the  court  room  down  to  the  dungeon 
below,  where  the  great  black  beam  was,  from 
which  they  were  to  be  hung. 

9    Geneva 


130  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 

The  boys,  however,  did  not  pay  a  great  deal 
of  attention  to  what  the  guide  said  about  the 
former  uses  of  these  rooms.  They  seemed  to 
be  much  more  interested  in  the  purposes  that 
they  were  now  serving,  and  so  went  about  ex- 
amining very  eagerly  the  great  brass  cannons 
and  the  ammunition  wagons  that  stood  in 
them. 

At  length,  however,  they  came  to  something 
which  specially  attracted  their  attention.  It 
was  a  small  room,  which  the  guide  said  was  an 
ancient  torturing  room.  There  was  a  large 
wooden  post  in  the  center  of  the  room,  extend- 
ing from  the  floor  to  the  vault  above.  The  post 
was  worn  and  blackened  by  time  and  decay, 
and  there  were  various  hooks,  and  staples,  and 
pulleys  attached  to  it  at  different  heights, 
which  the  guide  said  were  used  for  securing 
the  prisoners  to  the  post,  when  they  were  to 
be  tortured.  The  post  itself  was  burned  in 
many  places,  as  if  by  hot  irons. 

The  boys  saw  another  place  in  a  room  be- 
yond, which  was  in  some  respects  still  more 
dreadful  than  this.  It  was  a  place  where  there 
was  an  opening  in  the  floor,  near  the  wall  of 
the  room,  that  looked  like  a  trap  door.  There 
was  the  beginning  of  a  stone  stair  leading 
down.  A  small  railing  was  built  round  the 
opening,  as  if  to  keep  people  from  falling  in. 
The  boys  all  crowded  round  the  railing,  and 
looked  down. 

They  saw  that  the  stair  only  went  down 
three  steps  and  then  it  came  to  a  sudden  end, 
and  all  below  was  a  dark  and  dismal  pit  which 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  131 

seemed  bottomless.  On  looking  more  intently, 
however,  they  could  at  length  see  a  glimmer 
of  light,  and  hear  the  rippling  of  the  waves  of 
the  lake,  at  a  great  depth  below.  The  guide 
said  that  this  was  one  of  the  oubliettes,  that  is, 
a  place  where  men  could  be  destroyed  secretly, 
and  in  such  a  manner  that  no  one  should  ever 
know  what  became  of  them.  They  were  con- 
ducted to  this  door,  and  directed  to  go  down. 
It  was  dark,  so  that  they  could  only  see  the 
first  steps  of  the  stair.  They  would  suppose, 
however,  that  the  stair  was  continued,  and 
that  it  would  lead  them  down  to  some  room, 
where  they  were  to  go.  So  they  would  walk 
on  carefully,  feeling  for  the  steps  of  the  stair ; 
but  after  the  third  there  would  be  no  more, 
and  they  would  fall  down  to  a  great  depth  on 
ragged  rocks,  and  be  killed.  To  make  it  cer- 
tain that  they  would  be  killed  by  the  fall,  there 
were  sharp  blades,  like  the  ends  of  scythes, 
fixed  in  the  rock,  far  below,  to  cut  them  in 
pieces  as  they  fell. 

It  seems  these  tyrants,  hateful  and  merciless 
as  they  were,  did  not  wish,  or  perhaps  did  not 
dare,  to  destroy  the  souls  as  well  as  the  bodies 
of  their  victims,  and  so  they  contrived  it  that 
the  last  act  which  the  poor  wretch  should  per- 
form before  going  down  into  this  dreadful  pit 
should  be  an  act  of  devotion.  To  this  end 
there  was  made  a  little  niche  in  the  wall,  just 
over  the  trap  door,  and  there  was  placed  there 
an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  is  wor- 
shiped in  Catholic  countries  as  divine.  The 
prisoner  was  invited  to  kiss  this  image  as  he 


132  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

passed  by,  just  as  he  began  to  descend  the 
stair.  Thus  the  very  last  moment  of  his  life 
would  be  spent  in  performing  an  act  of  devo- 
tion, and  thus,  as  they  supposed,  his  soul  would 
be  saved.  What  a  strange  combination  is  this 
of  superstition  and  tyranny ! 

After  seeing  all  these  things,  the  boys  re- 
turned toward  the  entrance  of  the  castle. 
They  met  several  parties  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men coming  in;  and  just  as  they  got  to  the 
door  again,  the  carriage  containing  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Holiday  drove  up.  So  Rollo  bade  the 
teacher  and  all  the  boys  good-by,  after  accom- 
panying them  a  few  minutes,  as  they  walked 
along  the  road  toward  the  place  where  they 
were  to  go.  By  this  time  his  father  and  mother 
had  descended  from  their  carriage,  and  were 
ready  to  go  in.  So  Rollo  joined  them,  and 
went  through  the  castle  again,  and  saw  all  the 
places  a  second  time. 

When  they  came  out,  and  were  getting  into 
the  carriage,  Mr.  Holiday  said  that  it  was  a 
very  interesting  place. 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  "and  we  have 
seen  all  that  Byron  speaks  of  in  his  poem, 
except  the  little  island.  Where  is  the  little 
island?" 

Mr.  Holiday  pointed  out  over  the  water  of 
the  lake,  where  a  group  of  three  tall  tree9 
seemed  to  be  growing  directly  out  of  the  water, 
only  that  there  was  a  little  wall  around  them 
below.  They  looked  like  three  flowers  growing 
in  a  flower-pot  set  in  the  water. 

"Yes,"  said   Mrs.   Holiday,   "that  must  cer- 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  133 

tainly  be  it.  It  corresponds  exactly."  So 
she  repeated  the  following  lines  from  Byron's 
poem,  which  describes  the  island  in  the  language 
of  one  of  the  prisoners,  who  saw  it  from  his 
dungeon  window: 

"And  then  there  was  a  little  isle, 
Which  in  my  very  face  did  smile — 

The  only  one  in  view ; 
A  small  green  isle,  it  seemed  no  more, 
Scarce  broader  than  my  dungeon  floor ; 
But  in  it  there  were  three  tall  trees, 
And  o'er  it  blew  the  mountain  breeze, 
And  by  it  there  were  waters  flowing, 
And  on  it  there  were  young  flowers  growing, 

Of  gentle  breath  and  hue." 

"That's  pretty  poetry,"  said  Rollo. 

4  *  Very  pretty  indeed,"  said  his  father. 

The  horse  now  began  to  trot  along  the  road. 
The  little  island  continued  in  view  for  a  while, 
and  then  disappeared,  and  afterward  came 
into  view  again,  as  the  road  went  turning  and 
winding  around,  following  the  indentations  of 
the  shore. 

At  length,  after  a  short  but  very  pleasant 
ride,  the  party  arrived  safely  at  the  inn  again 
at  Villeneuve. 


134  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


PLAN  FORMED. 


The  reason  why  the  Lake  of  Geneva  is  of  a 
crescent  form  is,  that  that  is  the  shape  of  the 
space  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley  which  it  fills. 
There  are  two  ranges  of  mountains  running  in 
a  curved  direction  almost  parallel  to  each  other, 
and  the  space  between  them,  for  a  certain  dis- 
tance, is  filled  with  water,  owing  to  the  spread- 
ing out  of  the  waters  of  the  Rhone  in  flowing 
through.  Thus  the  lake  is  produced  by  the 
valley,  and  takes  its  form  from  it. 

The  valley  does  not  come  to  an  end  when 
you  reach  the  head  of  the  lake,  but  continues 
for  more  than  a  hundred  miles  beyond,  the  two 
mountain  ranges  continuing  to  border  it  all 
that  distance,  and  the  River  Rhone  to  flow 
through  the  center  of  it.  Thus  at  Villeneuve 
you  look  in  one  direction,  and  you  have  a  wind- 
ing valley  filled  with  water,  extending  for  fifty 
miles,  to  Geneva;  while  in  the  other  direction, 
the  same  valley — though  now  the  floor  of  it  is 
a  green  and  fertile  plain — continues,  with  the 
same  stupendous  walls  of  mountain  bordering 
the  sides  of  it,  for  a  hundred  miles  or  more,  to 
the  sources  of  the  Rhone. 

There  is  another  thing  that  is  very  curious  in 
respect  to  this  valley,  and  that  is,  that  the  floor 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  135 

of  it  is  as  flat,  and  smooth,  and  level,  almost, 
where  it  is  formed  of  land,  as  where  it  is  formed 
of  water. 

Geologists  suppose  that  the  reason  why  the 
bottom  of  the  valley,  when  it  consists  of  land, 
is  so  perfectly  level,  is  because  the  land  has 
been  formed  by  deposits  from  the  river,  in  the 
course  of  a  long  succession  of  ages.  Of  course 
the  river  could  never  build  the  land  any  higher, 
in  any  part,  than  it  rises  itself  in  the  highest 
inundations.  Indeed,  land  formed  by  river 
deposits  is  almost  always  nearly  level,  and  the 
surface  of  it  is  but  little  raised  above  the  ordi- 
nary level  of  the  stream,  and  never  above  that 
of  the  highest  inundations. 

It  must,  however,  by  no  means  be  supposed 
that  because  the  surface  of  the  valley  above 
the  head  of  the  lake  is  flat  and  level,  that  it  is 
on  that  account  monotonous  and  uninteresting. 
Indeed,  it  is  quite  the  reverse.  It  forms  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  enchanting  landscapes 
that  can  be  conceived.  It  is  abundantly  shaded 
with  trees,  some  planted  in  avenues  along  the 
roadside,  some  bearing  fruit  in  orchards  and 
gardens,  and  some  standing  in  picturesque 
groups  about  the  houses,  or  in  pretty  groves 
by  the  margin  of  the  fields.  The  land  is  laid 
out  in  a  very  charming  manner,  in  gardens, 
orchards,  meadows,  and  fields  of  corn  and 
grain,  with  no  fences  to  separate  them  either 
from  each  other  or  from  the  road ;  so  that  in 
walking  along  the  public  highway  you  seem  to 
walk  in  one  of  the  broad  alleys  of  an  immense 
and  most  beautiful  garden. 


136  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

Besides  all  these  beauties  of  the  scene  itself, 
the  pleasure  of  walking  through  it  is  greatly 
increased  by  the  number  and  variety  of  groups 
and  figures  of  peasant  girls  and  boys,  and 
women  and  men,  that  you  meet  coming  along 
the  road,  or  see  working  in  the  fields,  all 
dressed  in  the  pretty  Swiss  costume,  and  each 
performing  some  curious  operation,  which  is 
either  in  itself,  or  in  the  manner  of  performing 
it,  entirely  different  from  what  is  seen  in  any 
other  land. 

Rollo  followed  the  main  road  leading  up  the 
valley  a  little  way  one  evening,  while  his  father 
and  mother  were  at  Villeneuve,  in  order,  as 
he  said,  to  see  where  the  diligences  went  to. 
He  was  so  much  pleased  with  what  he  saw  that 
he  went  back  to  the  hotel,  and  began  study- 
ing the  guide  book,  in  order  to  find  how  far  it 
was  to  the  next  town,  and  what  objects  of  in- 
terest there  were  to  be  seen  on  the  way.  He 
was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  result  of  his  in- 
vestigations that  he  resolved  to  propose  to  his 
father  and  mother  to  make  a  pedestrian 
excursion  up  the  valley. 

"Now,  mother,"  said  he,  "I  have  a  plan  to 
propose,  and  that  is,  that  we  all  set  out  to- 
morrow morning,  and  make  a  pedestrian  ex- 
cursion up  the  valley,  to  the  next  town,  or  the 
next  town  but  one." 

"How  far  is  it?"  asked  Mrs.  Holiday. 

"Why,  the  best  place  to  go  to,"  said  Rollo, 
"is  Aigle,  which  is  the  second  town,  and  that 
is  only  six  miles  from  here. ' ' 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  137 

"O,  Rollo!"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  "I  could 
not  possibly  walk  six  miles. ' ' 

4tO,  yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo.  "The  road 
is  as  smooth,  and  level,  and  hard  as  a  floor: 
Besides,  you  said  that  you  meant  to  make  a 
pedestrian  excursion  somewhere  while  you 
were  in  Switzerland,  and  there  could  not  be  a 
better  place  than  this. ' ' 

"I  know  I  said  so,"  replied  Mrs.  Holiday, 
"but  I  was  not  really  in  earnest.  Besides,  I 
don't  think  I  could  possibly  walk  six  miles. 
But  we  will  take  a  carriage  and  ride  there,  if 
your  father  is  willing. ' ' 

"But,  mother,  it  is  not  so  pleasant  to  ride. 
You  can't  see  so  well,  for  the  top  of  the  car- 
riage, or  else  the  driver  on  his  high  seat  be- 
fore, will  be  more  or  less  in  the  way.  Then 
when  you  are  walking  you  can  stop  so  easily 
any  minute,  and  look  around.  But  if  you  are 
in  a  carriage,  it  makes  a  fuss  and  trouble  to  be 
calling  continually  upon  the  coachman  to  stop ; 
and,  then,  besides,  half  of  the  time,  before  he 
gets  the  carriage  stopped,  you  have  got  by  the 
place  you  wanted  to  see. " 

What  Rollo  said  is  very  true.  We  can  see  a 
country  containing  a  series  of  fine  landscapes 
much  more  thoroughly  by  walking  through  it, 
or  riding  on  horseback,  than  by  going  in  a  car- 
riage. I  do  not  think,  however,  that,  after  all, 
this  advantage  constituted  the  real  inducement 
in  Rollo 's  mind  which  made  him  so  desirous  of 
walking  to  Aigle.  The  truth  was,  that  the  lit- 
tle walk  which  he  had  taken  to  Chillon  with  the 
party  of  pedestrian  boys  had  quite  filled  his 


138  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

imagination  with  the  pleasures  and  the  inde- 
pendent dignity  of  this  mode  of  traveling,  and 
he  was  very  ambitious  of  making  an  experi- 
ment of  it  himself. 

4 'And,  mother,"  continued  Rollo,  " after  all, 
it  is  only  about  two  hours  and  a  half  or  three 
hours,  at  two  or  three  miles  an  hour.  Now, 
you  are  often  gone  as  much  as  that,  making 
calls ;  and  when  you  are  making  calls  you  gen- 
erally go,  I  am  sure,  as  much  a  two  or  three 
miles  an  hour. ' ' 

"But  I  generally  ride,  making  calls,"  said 
Mrs.   Holiday. 

"Yes,  mother,  but  sometimes  you  walk;  and 
I  think  when  you  walk  you  are  often  gone 
more  than  three  hours. ' ' 

"That  is  true, "  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "I  admit; 
but  then,  you  know,  when  I  am  making  calls  I 
am  resting  a  great  deal  of  the  time  at  the  houses 
where  I  call." 

"I  know  that,"  said  Rollo;  "and  so  we  will 
rest,  sitting  down  by  the  road  side." 

Mrs.  Holiday  admitted  that  Rollo  had  rather 
the  best  of  the  argument;  but  she  was  still 
quite  unwilling  to  believe  that  she  could  really 
walk  six  miles. 

"And  back  again,  too, "  she  added.  "You 
must  consider  that  we  shall  have  to  come  back 
again. ' ' 

"Ah,  but  I  don't  wish  to  have  you  walk  back 
again,"  said  Rollo.  "We  will  come  back  by 
the  diligence.  There  are  several  diligences 
and  omnibuses  that  come  by  Aigle,  on  the  way 
here,  in  the  course  of  the  day. ' ' 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  139 

Mrs.  Holiday  was  still  undecided.  She  was 
very  desirous  of  gratifying  Rollo,  but  yet  she 
had  not  courage  to  undertake  quite  so  great  a 
feat  as  to  walk  six  miles.  At  length  Mr.  Hol- 
iday proposed  that  they  should  at  least  set  out 
and  go  a  little  way. 

"We  can  try  it  for  half  an  hour,"  said  he, 
"and  then  go  on  or  turn  back,  just  as  we  feel 
inclined.  Or  if  we  go  on  several  miles,  and 
then  get  tired,  we  shall  soon  come  to  a  village, 
where  we  shall  be  able  to  get  some  sort  of 
vehicle  or  other  to  bring  us  back ;  and  at  all 
events  we  shall  have  an  adventure." 

Mrs.  Holiday  consented  to  this  plan,  and  it 
was  settled  that  the  party  should  breakfast  at 
eight  o'clock  the  next  morning,  and  set  out 
immediately  afterward. 

Rollo  had  a  sort  of  haversack  which  he  used 
to  carry  sometimes  on  his  walks,  and  he  always 
kept  it  with  him  in  the  steamboat  or  carriage, 
when  he  traveled  in  those  conveyances.  This 
haversack  he  got  ready,  supplying  it  with  all 
that  he  thought  would  be  required  for  the  ex- 
cursion. He  put  in  it  his  drinking  cup, — the 
one  which  he  had  bought  in  Scotland, — a  little 
spy  glass,  which  he  used  for  viewing  the 
scenery,  a  book  that  his  mother  was  reading, 
a  little  portfolio  containing  some  drawing 
paper  and  a  pencil,  a  guide  book  and  map, 
and,  lastly,  a  paper  of  small  cakes  and  sugar 
plums,  to  give  to  any  children  that  he  might 
chance  to  meet  on  the  way. 


140  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

Rollo  made  all  these  preparations  the  even- 
ing before,  so  that  everything  might  be  ready- 
in  the  morning,  when  the  hour  for  setting  out 
should  arrive. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  141 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


WALK    TO    AIGLE. 


"Now,  Rollo,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  as  the 
party  sallied  forth  from  the  inn  to  commence 
their  walk  up  the  valley,  "we  depend  entirely 
on  you.  This  is  your  excursion,  and  we  ex- 
pect you  will  take  care  and  see  that  everything 
goes  right. ' ' 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo.  "Come  with  me. 
I'll  show  you  the  way." 

On  the  borders  of  the  village  they  passed  to 
a  high  stone  bridge  which  crossed  a  small 
stream.  This  stream  came  in  a  slow  and 
meandering  course  through  the  meadows,  and 
here  emptied  into  the  lake.  Farther  back  it 
was  a  torrent  leaping  from  rock  to  rock  and 
crag  to  crag,  for  many  thousand  feet  down  the 
mountain  side ;  but  here  it  flowed  so  gently, 
and  lay  so  quietly  in  its  bed,  that  pond  lilies 
grew  and  bloomed  in  its  waters. 

Just  above  the  bridge  there  was  a  square 
enclosure  in  the  margin  of  the  water,  with  a 
solid  stone  wall  all  around  it.  A  man  stood 
on  the  wall  with  a  net  in  his  hand.  The  net 
was  attached  to  a  pole.  The  man  was  just 
dipping  the  net  into  the  water  when  Rollo, 
with  his  father  and  mother,  came  upon  the 
bridge. 


142  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

"Let  us  stop  a  minute,  and  see  what  that 
man  is  going  to  do,"  said  Rollo.  "I  saw  that 
square  wall  yesterday,  and  I  could  not  imagine 
what  it  was  for." 

The  man  put  his  net  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  reservoir,  and  after  drawing  it  along  on 
the  bottom,  he  took  it  out  again.  There  was 
nothing  in  it.  He  then  repeated  the  oper- 
ation, and  this  time  he  brought  up  two  large 
fishes  that  looked  like  trout.  They  were  both 
more  than  a  foot  long. 

The  man  uttered  a  slight  exclamation  of 
satisfaction,  and  then  lifting  the  net  over  the 
wall,  he  let  the  fish  fall  into  a  basket  which  he 
had  placed  outside.  He  then  went  away, 
carrying  the  basket  with  one  hand,  and  the  net 
on  his  shoulder  with  the  other. 

"That's  a  very  curious  plan,"  said  Rollo. 
"I  suppose  they  catch  the  fish  in  the  lake,  and 
then  put  them  in  that  pen  and  keep  them, 
there  till  they  are  ready  to  eat  them." 

So  they  walked  on. 

Presently  Rollo  saw  some  of  the  pond  lilies 
growing  in  the  stream,  the  course  of  which 
was  here,  for  a  short  distance,  near  the  road. 

"I  wish  very  much,  mother,"  said  he,  "that 
I  could  get  one  of  those  pond  lilies  for  you,  but 
I  cannot.  I  tried  yesterday,  but  they  are  too 
far  from  the  shore,  and  it  is  so  finished,  and 
smooth,  and  nice  about  here  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  pole  or  a  stick  to  be  found  any- 
where to  reach  with." 

Presently,  however,  Rollo  came  to  a  boy  who 
was  fishing  on  the  bank  of  the  stream,  and  he 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  143 

asked  him  if  he  would  be  good  enough  to  hook 
in  one  of  those  lilies  for  him  with  his  pole  and 
line.  The  boy  was  very  willing  to  do  it.  He 
threw  a  loop  of  his  line  over  one  of  the  pond 
lilies,  and  drew  it  in.  Rollo  thanked  the  boy 
for  his  kindness,  and  gave  the  pond  lily  to 
his  mother. 

Perhaps  there  are  no  flowers  that  give  st 
higher  pleasure  to  the  possessors  than  tho$e 
which  a  boy  of  Rollo' s  age  gathers  for  his 
mother. 

The  party  walked  on.  Mrs.  Holiday's  attej 
tion  was  soon  strongly  attracted  to  the  varies; 
groups  of  peasants  which  she  saw  working  1 -. 
the  fields,  or  walking  along  the  road.  First  came 
a  young  girl,  with  a  broad-brimmed  straw  hat 
on  her  head,  driving  a  donkey  cart  loaded  wk h 
sheaves  of  grain.  Next  an  old  and  decrept- 
looking  woman,  with  a  great  bundle  of  sticks 
on  her  head.  It  seemed  impossible  that  she 
could  carry  so  great  a  load  in  such  a  manner. 
As  our  party  went  by,  she  turned  her  head 
slowly  round  a  little  way,  to  look  at  them; 
and  it  was  curious  to  see  the  great  bundle  of 
sticks — which  was  two  feet  in  diameter,  and 
four  or  five  feet  long — slowly  turn  round  with 
her  head,  and  then  slowly  turn  back  again  as 
she  went  on  her  way. 

Next  Mrs.  Holiday  paused  a  moment  to  look 
at  some  girls  who  were  hoeing  in  the  field. 
The  girls  looked  smilingly  upon  the  strangers, 
and  bade  them  good  morning. 

14 Ask  them,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday  to  Rollo,  "if 
their  work  is  not  very  hard. ' ' 


144  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

So  Rollo  asked  them  the  question.  Mrs. 
Holiday  requested  him  to  do  it  because  she 
did  not  speak  French  very  well,  and  so  she  did 
not  like  to  try. 

The  girls  said  that  the  work  was  not  hard  at 
all.  They  laughed,  and  went  on  working 
faster  than  ever. 

Next  they  came  to  a  poor  wayfaring  woman, 
who  was  sitting  by  the  roadside  with  an  infant 
in  her  arms.  Rollo  immediately  took  out  one 
of  the  little  cakes  from  the  parcel  in  his  knap- 
sack, and  handed  it  to  the  child.  The  mother 
seemed  very  much  pleased.  She  bowed  to 
Rollo,  and  said, — 

4 4  She  thanks  you  infinitely,  sir. ' ' 

Thus  they  went  on  for  about  three  quarters 
of  an  hour.  During  all  this  time  Mrs.  Holi- 
day's attention  was  so  much  taken  up  with 
what  she  saw, — sometimes  with  the  groups  of 
peasants  and  the  pretty  little  views  of  gardens, 
cottages,  and  fields  which  attracted  her  notice 
by  the  roadside,  ever  and  anon  by  the  glimpses 
which  she  obtained  of  the  stupendous  moun- 
tain ranges  that  bordered  the  valley  on  either 
hand,  and  that  were  continually  presenting 
their  towering  crags  and  dizzy  precipices  to 
view  through  the  opening  of  the  trees  on  the 
plain, — that  she  had  not  time  to  think  of  being 
fatigued.  At  length  Rollo  asked  her  how  she 
liked  the  walk. 

44 Very  well,"  said  she;  4'only  I  think  now  I 
have  walked  full  as  far  as  I  should  ever  have 
to  go  at  home,  when  making  calls,  before  com- 
ing to  the  first  house.     So  as  soon  as  you  can 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  145 

you  may  find  me  a  place  to  sit  down  and  rest  a 
little  while." 

"Well,"  said  Rollo,  "I  see  a  grove  of  trees 
by  the  roadside,  on  ahead  a  little  way.  When 
we  get  there  we  will  sit  down  in  the  shade  and 
rest." 

So  they  went  on  till  they  came  to  the  grove. 
The  grove  proved  to  be  a  very  pretty  one, 
though  it  consisted  of  only  four  or  five  trees; 
but  unfortunately  there  was  no  place  to  sit 
down  in  it.  Rollo  looked  about  for  some  time 
in  vain,  and  seemed  quite  disappointed. 

"Nevermind,"  said  his  mother;  "sometimes, 
when  I  make  a  call,  I  find  that  the  lady  I  have 
called  to  see  is  not  at  home ;  and  then,  even  if 
I  am  tired  and  want  to  rest,  I  have  to  go  on 
to  the  next  house.  We  will  suppose  that  at 
this  place  the  lady  is  not  at  home." 

Rollo  laughed  and  walked  on.  It  was  not 
long  before  they  reached  a  place  where  there 
was  a  kind  of  granary,  or  some  other  farm 
building  of  that  sort,  near  the  road,  with  a 
little  yard  where  some  logs  were  lying.  Rollo 
found  excellent  seats  for  his  father  and  mother 
on  these  logs.  They  sat  on  one  of  them,  and 
leaned  their  backs  against  another  that  was  a 
little  higher  up.  They  were  in  the  shade  of 
the  building,  too,  so  that  the  place  was  very 
cool. 

"This  is  a  very  nice  place  to  rest,"  said  Mrs. 
Holiday;  "and  while  we  are  sitting,  we  can 
amuse  ourselves  in  looking  at  the  people  that 
goby." 

The  first  person  that  came  was  a  pretty- look  - 

10    Geneva 


146  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

ing  peasant  girl  of  about  seventeen,  who  had 
a  tub  upon  her  head.  What  was  in  the  tub 
Rollo  could  not  see.  With  such  a  burden  on 
her  head,  however,  it  is  plain  that  the  girl 
could  not  wear  her  hat  in  the  ordinary  manner, 
and  so  she  carried  it  tied  to  the  back  of  her 
neck,  with  its  broad  brim  covering  her 
shoulders.  This,  Mr.  Holiday  said,  seemed 
to  him  to  be  carrying  the  modern  fashion  of 
wearing  the  bonnet  quite  to  an  extreme. 

The  Swiss  women  have  other  ways  of  bear- 
ing burdens,  besides  loading  them  upon  their 
heads.  They  carry  them  upon  their  backs, 
sometimes,  in  baskets  fitted  to  their  shoulders. 
A  woman  came  by,  while  Rollo  and  his  father 
and  mother  were  sitting  upon  the  logs,  with 
her  child  taking  a  ride  in  such  a  basket  on  her 
back.  As  soon  as  this  woman  was  past,  Rollo 
was  so  much  struck  with  the  comical  appear- 
ance that  the  child  made,  sitting  upright  in  the 
basket,  and  looking  around,  that  he  took  out 
some  paper  and  a  pencil  immediately  from  his 
portfolio,  and  asked  his  mother  to  make  a  draw- 
ing of  the  woman,  with  the  child  in  the  basket 
on  her  back.  This  Mrs.  Holiday  could  easily 
do,  even  from  the  brief  glimpse  which  she  had 
of  the  woman  as  she  went  by;  for  the  outlines 
of  the  figure  and  dress  of  the  woman  and  of 
the  basket  and  child  were  very  simple.  Mrs. 
Holiday  afterward  put  in  some  of  the  scenery 
for  a  background. 

When  the  drawing  was  finished,  Rollo  told 
his  mother  that  he  calculated  that  they  had 
come  one  third  of  the  way,  and  asked  her  if 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  147 

she  f eit  tired :  and  she  said  she  did  not  feel 
tired  at  all,  and  so  they  rose  and  went  on. 

In  a  short  time  they  came  to  a  village. 
It  consisted  of  a  narrow  street,  with  stone 
houses  on  each  side  of  it.  The  houses  were 
close  together  and  close  to  the  street.  In  one 
place  several  people  were  sitting  out  before 
the  door,  and  among  them  was  a  poor,  sickly 
child,  such  as  are  found  very  often  in  the  low 
valleys  of  Switzerland,  of  the  kind  called 
cretins.  These  children  are  entirely  helpless, 
and  they  have  no  reason,  or  at  least  very  little. 
The  one  which  Rollo  saw  was  a  girl,  and 
appeared  to  be  about  ten  years  old ;  but  it  did 
not  seem  to  have  strength  enough  to  sit  up  in 
its  chair.  It  was  continually  lolling  and  fall- 
ing about  on  this  side  and  that,  and  trying  to 
look  up.  The  mother  of  the  child  sat  by  her, 
and  kept  her  from  falling  out  of  the  chair. 
She  was  talking,  the  meanwhile,  with  the 
neighbors,  who  were  sitting  there  on  a  bench, 
knitting  or  sewing. 

The  face  of  the  child  was  deformed,  and  had 
scarcely  a  human  expression.  Both  Rollo  and 
his  mother  were  much  shocked  at  the  spec- 
tacle. 

k4It  is  a  cretin — is  it  not?"  said  Mrs.  Holiday 
to  her  husband,  in  a  whisper,  as  soon  as  they 
had  passed  by. 

44 Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

4 "Mother,"  said  Rollo,  "would  you  give  that 
poor  little  thing  a  cake?" 

44Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  4,I  would." 


148  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

"Do  you  think  she  will  understand?"  asked 
Rollo. 

44 Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday;  "I  think  she  will; 
and  at  any  rate  her  mother  will. ' ' 

Rollo  had  by  this  time  taken  out  his  cake. 
He  went  back  with  it  to  the  place  where  the 
women  were  sitting,  and  held  it  out,  half,  as  it 
were,  to  the  mother,  and  half  to  the  child,  so 
that  either  of  them  might  take  it,  saying,  at 
the  same  time,  to  the  mother,  in  French, — 

44  For  this  poor  little  child. " 

The  mother  smiled,  and  looked  very  much 
pleased.  The  cretin,  whose  eyes  caught  a 
glimpse,  of  the  cake,  laughed,  and  began  to 
try  to  reach  out  her  hand  to  take  it.  It  seemed 
hard  for  her  to  guide  her  hand  to  the  place, 
and  she  fell  over  from  side  to  side  all  the  time 
while  attempting  to  do  so.  She  would  have 
fallen  entirely  if  her  mother  had  not  held  her 
up.  At  length  she  succeeded  in  getting  hold 
of  the  cake,  which  she  carried  directly  to  her 
mouth,  and  then  laughed  again  with  a  laugh 
that  seemed  scarcely  human,  and  was  hideous 
to  see. 

44 Does  she  understand?"  asked  Rollo. 

44 Yes,"  said  the  mother;  44she  understands, 
but  she  can't  speak,  poor  thing.  But  she 
is  very  much  obliged  to  you  indeed." 

So  Rollo  bowed  to  the  mother  of  the  child, 
and  to  the  other  women,  and  then  went  on 
and  rejoined  his  father  and  mother. 

They  passed  through  the  village,  and  then 
came  into  the  open  country  again.  Some- 
times the  mountains  that  bordered  the  valley 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  149 

receded  to  some  distance ;  at  other  times  they 
came  very  near;  and  there  was  one  place 
where  they  formed  a  range  of  lofty  precipices 
a  thousand  feet  high,  that  seemed  almost  to 
overhang  the  road.  Here  Rollo  stopped  to 
look  up.  He  saw,  near  a  rounded  mass  of  rock, 
half  way  up  the  mountain,  two  young  eagles 
that  had  apparently  just  left  their  nest,  and 
were  trying  to  learn  to  fly.  The  old  eagles 
were  soaring  around  them,  screaming.  They 
seemed  to  be  afraid  that  their  young  ones 
would  fall  down  the  rocks  and  get  killed. 
Rollo  wished  that  they  would  fall  down,  or  at 
least  fly  down,  to  where  he  was,  in  order  that 
he  might  catch  one  of  them.  But  they  did  not. 
They  took  only  short  flights  from  rock  to 
rock  and  from  thicket  to  thicket,  but  they  did 
not  come  down.  So,  after  watching  them  for 
a  time,  Rollo  went  on. 

Next  they  came  to  a  place  where  the  valley 
took  a  turn  so  as  to  expose  the  mountain  side 
to  the  sun  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  a  good 
place  there  for  grapes  to  grow  and  ripen. 
The  people  had  accordingly  terraced  the  whole 
declivity  by  building  walls,  one  above  another, 
to  support  the  earth  for  the  vineyards;  and 
when  Rollo  was  going  by  the  place  he  looked 
up  and  saw  a  man  standing  on  the  wall  of  one 
of  the  terraces,  with  the  tool  which  he  had 
been  working  with  in  his  hand.  He  seemed 
suspended  in  midair,  and  looked  down  on  the 
road  and  on  the  people  walking  along  it  as  a 
man  would  look  down  upon  a  street  in  London 
from  the  gallery  under  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's. 


150  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

"That's  a  pleasant  place  to  wrok, "  said 
Rollo,  "away  up  there,  between  the  heavens 
and  the  earth. ' ' 

*  "Yes,"  said  his  mother;  "and  I  should  think 
that  taking  care  of  vines  and  gathering  the 
grapes  would  be  very  pretty  work  to  do. ' ' 

There  was  a  little  building  on  the  corner  of 
one  of  the  terraces,  which  Mr.  Holiday  said 
was  a  watch  tower.  There  were  windows  on 
all  the  sides  of  it. 

"When  the  grapes  begin  to  ripen,"  said  he, 
"there  is  a  man  stationed  there  to  watch  all 
the  vineyards  around,  in  order  to  prevent  peo- 
ple from  stealing  the  grapes." 

"I  should  think  there  would  be  danger  of 
their  stealing  the  grapes,"  said  Rollo. 

After  going  on  a  little  way  beyond  this, 
they  began  to  approach  the  town  of  Aigle. 
Mrs.  Holiday  was  surprised  that  she  could  have 
come  so  far  with  so  little  fatigue.  Rollo  told 
her  that  it  was  because  she  had  walked  along 
so  slowly. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  "and  because 
there  have  been  so  many  things  to  take  up  our 
attention  by  the  way.  V 

When  they  arrived  at  the  village  they  went 
directly  to  the  inn.  The  inns  in  these  country 
towns  in  Switzerland  are  the  largest  and  most 
conspicuous  looking  buildings  to  be  seen. 
Rollo  went  first,  and  led  the  way.  He  went 
directly  to  the  dining  room. 

The  dining  rooms  in  these  inns,  as  I  have 
already  said,  are  the  public  rooms,  where  the 
company  always  go,  whether  they  wish  for  any- 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  151 

thing  to  eat  or  not.  There  is  usually  one  large 
table,  for  dinner,  in  the  center  of  the  room,  and 
several  smaller  tables  at  the  sides  or  at  the  win- 
dows, for  breakfasts  and  luncheons,  and  also 
for  small  dinner  parties  of  two  or  three.  Be- 
sides these  tables,  there  is  often  one  with  a  pen 
and  ink  upon  it  for  writing,  and  another  for 
knapsacks  and  carpet  bags ;  and  there  are  sofas 
for  the  company  to  repose  upon  while  the 
waiter  is  setting  the  table  for  them. 

Rollo  accordingly  led  the  way  at  once  to  the 
dining  room  of  the  inn,  and  conducted  his 
mother  to  a  sofa. 

"Now,  Rollo,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "order  us 
a  dinner." 

So  Rollo  went  to  the  waiter,  and  after  talk- 
ing with  him  a  little  while,  came  back  and  said 
that  he  had  ordered  some  fried  trout,  some 
veal  cutlets,  fried  potatoes,  an  omelet,  and 
some  coffee. 

"And  besides  that,"  said  Rollo,  "he  is  going 
to  give  us  some  plums  and  some  pears.  This 
is  a  famous  place  for  plums  and  pears." 

"And  for  grapes,  too,  in  the  season  of 
them,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

This  was  very  true.  Indeed,  on  looking 
about  the  walls  of  the  room,  to  see  the  maps 
and  the  pretty  pictures  of  Swiss  scenery  that 
were  there,  Rollo  found  among  the  other 
things  an  advertisement  of  what  was  called  the 
grape  cure.  It  seems  that  eating  ripe  grapes 
was  considered  a  cure  for  sickness  in  that 
country,  and  that  people  were  accustomed  to 
come  to  that  very  town  of  Aigle  to  procure 


152  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

them.  There  was  no  place  in  Switzerland, 
the  advertisement  said,  where  the  grapes  were 
richer  and  sweeter  than  there. 

The  advertisement  went  on  to  say  that  the 
season  for  the  grape  cure  was  in  September, 
October,  and  November;  that  there  were  a 
number  of  fine  vineyards  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  town  which  produced  the  most  delicious 
grapes;  and  that  these  vineyards  were  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  guests  of  the  hotel  at  the 
rate  of  a  franc  a  day  for  each  person ;  so  that 
for  that  sum  they  could  have  every  day  as 
many  as  they  could  eat;  and  this  was  to  be 
their  medicine,  to  make  them  well. 

Rollo  read  this  advertisement  aloud  to  his 
father  and  mother,  with  a  tone  of  voice  which 
indicated  a  very  eager  interest  in  it. 

"Father,"  said  he,  "I  wish  you  would  come 
here  and  try  it.  Perhaps  it  would  make  you 
well." 

The  advertisement  was  in  French,  and  Rollo 
translated  it  as  he  read  it.  He  succeeded  very 
well  in  rendering  into  English  all  that  was 
said  about  the  grapes,  and  the  manner  of  tak- 
ing them,  and  the  terms  for  boarders  at  the 
hotel ;  but  when  he  came  to  the  names  of  the 
diseases  that  the  grapes  would  cure,  he  was  at 
a  loss,  as  most  of  them  were  learned  medical 
words,  which  he  had  never  seen  before.  So 
he  read  off  the  names  in  French,  and  con- 
cluded by  asking  his  father  whether  he  did  not 
think  it  was  some  of  those  things  that  was  the 
matter  with  him. 

"Very  likely,"  said  his  father. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  153 

*'Then,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "I  wish  you 
would  come  here  in  October,  and  try  the  grape 
cure,  and  bring-  me,  too." 

"Very  likely  I  may,"  said  his  father.  "This 
is  on  the  great  road  to  Italy,  and  we  may  con- 
clude to  go  to  Italy  this  winter. " 

Just  at  this  time  the  door  of  the  dining  room 
opened,  and  a  new  party  came  in.  It  consisted 
of  a  gentleman  and  lady,  who  seemed  to  be  a 
new  married  pair.  They  came  in  a  carriage. 
Rollo  looked  out  the  window,  and  saw  the  car- 
riage drive  away  from  the  door  to  go  to  the 
stable. 

The  gentleman  put  his  haversack  and  the 
lady's  satchel  and  shawl  down  upon  the  table, 
and  then  took  a  seat  with  her  upon  another 
sofa  which  was  in  the  room. 

The  dinner  which  Rollo  had  ordered  was 
soon  ready  and  they  sat  down  to  eat  it  with 
excellent  appetites.  While  they  were  at  din- 
ner, Rollo  inquired  of  the  waiter  what  time 
the  omnibus  went  to  Villeneuve,  and  he 
learned  that  it  did  not  go  for  some  hours.  So 
Mr.  Holiday  told  his  wife  that  she  might  either 
have  a  chamber,  and  lie  down  and  rest  herself 
during  that  time,  or  they  might  go  out  and 
take  a  walk. 

Mrs.  Holiday  said  that  she  did  not  feel  at  all 
fatigued,  and  so  she  would  like  to  go  and  take 
a  walk. 

There  was  a  castle  on  a  rising  ground  just 
in  the  rear  of  the  village,  which  had  attracted 
her  attention  in  coming  into  the  town,  and  she 
was  desirous  of  going  to  see  it. 


1C4  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

So  they  all  set  off  to  go  and  see  the  castle. 
They  found  their  way  to  it  without  any  diffi- 
culty. It  proved  to  be  an  ancient  castle,  built 
in  the  middle  ages,  but  it  was  used  now  for  a 
prison.  The  family  of  the  jailer  lived  in  it, 
too.     It  looked  old  and  gone  to  decay. 

When  they  entered  the  courtyard,  a  woman 
looked  up  to  the  windows  and  called  out 
Julie !  Presently  a  young  girl  answered  to  the 
call,  and  the  woman  told  her  that  here  were 
some  people  come  to  see  the  castle.  So  Julie 
came  down  and  took  them  under  her  charge. 

The  party  spent  half  an  hour  in  rambling 
over  the  castle.  They  went  through  all  sorts 
of  intricate  passages,  and  up  and  down  flights 
of  stone  stairs,  steep,  and  narrow,  and  wind- 
ing. They  saw  a  number  of  dismal  dungeons. 
Some  were  dark,  so  that  the  girl  had  to  sake  a 
candle  to  light  the  way.  The  doors  were  old, 
and  blackened  by  time,  and  they  moved 
heavily  on  rusty  hinges.  The  bolts,  and  bars, 
and  locks  were  all  rusted,  too,  so  that  it  was 
very  difficult  to  move  them. 

The  visitors  did  not  see  all  the  dungeons 
and  cells,  for  some  of  them  had  prisoners  in 
them  then,  and  those  doors  Julie  said  she  was 
not  allowed  to  open,  for  fear  that  the  prisoners 
should  get  away. 

After  rambling  about  the  old  castle  as  much 
as  they  desired  to  do,  and  ascending  to  the 
tower  to  view  the  scenery,  the  party  came 
down  again,  and  returned  to  the  inn. 

They  found  the  dining  room  full  of  boys. 
These  boys  were  sitting  at  a  long  table,  eating 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  155 

a  luncheon.  They  were  the  boys  of  a  school. 
The  teacher  was  at  the  head  of  the  table. 
Rollo  talked  with  some  of  the  boys,  for  he 
found  two  or  three  that  could  talk  French  and 
English,  though  their  English  was  not  very 
good. 

In  due  time  the  omnibus  came  to  the  door, 
and  then  Rollo  conducted  his  father  and  mother 
to  it,  and  assisted  them  to  get  in.  The  sun 
was  now  nearly  down,  and  the  party  had  a 
delightful  ride,  in  the  cool  air  of  the  evening, 
back  to  Villeneuve. 

The  next  day  they  embarked  on  board  the 
steamer,  and  returned  to  Geneva 


156  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE     JEWELRY. 

I  have  already  said  that  Geneva  is  a  very 
famous  place  for  the  manufacture  of  watches 
and  jewelry,  and  that  almost  every  person  who 
goes  there  likes  to  buy  some  specimen  of  these 
manufactures  as  a  souvenir  of  their  visit. 

There  is  a  great  difference  in  ladies,  in 
respect  to  the  interest  which  they  take  in  dress 
and  ornaments.  Some  greatly  undervalue 
them,  some  greatly  overvalue  them. 

Some  ladies,  especially  such  as  are  of  a  very 
conscientious  and  religious  turn  of  mind,  are 
apt  to  imagine  that  there  is  something  wrong 
in  itself  in  wearing  ornaments  or  in  taking 
pleasure  in  them.  But  we  should  remember 
that  God  himself  has  ornamented  everything 
in  nature  that  has  not  power  to  ornament 
itself.  Look  at  the  flowers,  the  fruits,  the 
birds,  the  fields,  the  butterflies,  the  insects; 
see  how  beautiful  they  all  are  made  by  orna- 
ments with  which  God  has  embellished  them. 

God  has  not  ornamented  man,  nor  has  he 
clothed  him ;  but  he  has  given  him  the  powers 
and  faculties  necessary  to  clothe  and  ornament 
himself.  He  has  provided  him  with  the  means, 
too,  and  with  the  means  as  much  for  the  one 
as  for   the  other.     There  are  cotton  and  flax 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  157 

which  he  can  procure  from  plants,  and  wool 
and  fur  from  animals,  for  his  clothing;  and 
then  there  are  gold  and  silver  in  the  earth,  and 
rubies,  emeralds,  and  diamonds,  for  his  orna- 
ments ;  and  if  we  are  not  to  use  them,  what 
were  they  made  for? 

They,  therefore,  seem  to  be  in  error  who 
discard  all  ornaments,  and  think  that  to  wear 
them  or  to  take  pleasure  in  them  is  wrong. 

But  this,  after  all,  is  not  the  common  failing. 
The  danger  is  usually  altogether  the  other 
way.  A  great  many  ladies  overvalue  orna- 
ments. They  seem  to  think  of  scarcely  any- 
thing else.  They  cannot  have  too  many  rings, 
pins,  bracelets,  and  jewels.  They  spend  all 
their  surplus  money  for  these  things,  and  even 
sometimes  pinch  themselves  in  comforts  and 
necessaries,  to  add  to  their  already  abundant 
supplies.  This  excessive  fondness  for  dress 
and  articles  for  personal  adornment  is  a  mark 
of  a  weak  mind.  It  is  seen  most  strongly  in 
savages,  and  in  people  of  the  lowest  stages  of 
refinement  and  cultivation.  The  opposite 
error,  though  far  less  common,  is  equally  an 
error;  and  though  it  is  not  the  mark  of  any 
weakness  of  the  mind,  it  certainly  denotes  a 
degree  of  perversion  in  some  of  the  workings 
of  it. 

The  morning  after  the  return  of  our  party  to 
Geneva  from  their  excursion  along  the  lake, 
they  made  their  arrangements  for  leaving 
Geneva  finally  on  the  following  day. 

'And  now,"  said   Mr.    Holiday  to   his  wife, 
"  Geneva  is  a  famous  place  for  ornaments  and 


158  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

jewelry;  and  before  we  go,  I  think  you  had 
better  go  with  me  to  some  of  the  shops,  and 
buy  something  of  that  kind,  as  a  souvenir  of 
your  visit. ' ' 

" Well,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "if  you  think  it 
is  best,  we  will.  Only  I  don't  think  much  of 
ornaments  and  jewelry." 

"I  know  you  do  not,"  said  Mr.  Holiday; 
4 'and  that  is  the  reason  why  I  think  you  had 
better  buy  some  here." 

Mrs.  Holiday  laughed.  She  thought  it  was 
rather  a  queer  reason  for  wishing  her  to  buy  a 
thing — that  she  did  not  care  much  about  it. 

Rollo  was  present  during  this  conversation 
between  his  father  and  mother,  and  listened 
to  it;  and  when,  finally,  it  was  decided  that 
his  mother  should  go  to  one  or  two  of  the 
shops  in  Geneva,  to  look  at,  and  perhaps  pur- 
chase, some  of  the  ornaments  and  jewelry,  he 
wished  to  go,  too. 

"Why?"  said  his  mother;  "do  you  wish  to 
buy  any  of  those  things?" 

Rollo  said  he  did.  He  wished  to  buy  some 
for  presents. 

"Have  you  got  any  money?"  asked  his  father. 

"Yes,  sir,  plenty,"  said  Rollo. 

Rollo  was  a  very  good  manager  in  respect  to 
his  finances,  and  always  kept  a  good  supply  of 
cash  on  hand,  laid  up  from  his  allowance,  so 
as  to  be  provided  in  case  of  any  sudden 
emergency  like  this. 

So  the  party  set  out  together,  after  breakfast, 
to  look  at  the  shops.  They  knew  the  shops 
where  jewelry  was  kept  for  sale  by  the  display 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  159 

of  rings,  pins,  bracelets,  and  pretty  little 
watches,  that  were  put  up  at  the  windows. 
They  went  into  several  of  them.  The  shops 
were  not  large,  but  the  interior  of  them  pre- 
sented quite  a  peculiar  aspect.  There  were  no 
goods  of  any  kind,  except  those  in  the  win- 
dows, to  be  seen,  nor  were  there  even  any 
shelves ;  but  the  three  sides  of  the  room  were 
filled  with  little  drawers,  extending  from  the 
floor  to  the  ceiling.  These  drawers  were 
filled  with  jewelry  of  the  richest  and  most 
costly  description;  and  thus,  though  there 
was  nothing  to  be  seen  at  first  view,  the  value 
of  the  merchandise  ready  to  be  displayed  at  a 
moment's  notice  was  very  great. 

In  the  center  of  the  room,  in  front  of  the 
drawers,  were  counters — usually  two,  one  on 
each  side;  and  sometimes  there  was  a  table 
besides.  The  table  and  the  counters  were 
elegantly  made,  of  fine  cabinet  work,  and 
before  them  were  placed  handsome  chairs  and 
sofas,  nicely  cushioned,  so  that  the  customers 
might  sit  at  their  ease,  and  examine  the  orna- 
ments which  the  shopkeeper  showed  them. 
The  counters  were  of  the  same  height  as  the 
table,  and  there  were  drawers  in  them  below, 
and  also  in  the 'table,  like  those  along  the  sides 
of  the  room. 

At  the  first  shop  where  our  party  went  in, 
two  ladies,  very  showily  dressed,  were  sitting 
at  a  table,  looking  at  a  great  variety  of  pins, 
rings,  and  bracslets  that  the  shopkeeper  had 
placed  before  them.  The  articles  were  con- 
tained in  little  rosewood  and  mahogany  trays, 


160  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 

lined  with  velvet;  and  they  looked  very  bril- 
liant and  beautiful  as  they  lay,  each  in  its  own 
little  velvet  nest. 

The  ladies  looked  up  from  the  table,  and 
gazed  with  a  peculiar  sort  of  stare,  well  known 
among  fashionable  people  of  a  certain  sort, 
upon  Mrs.  Holiday,  as  she  came  in.  One  of 
them  put  up  a  little  eyeglass  to  her  eye,  in 
order  to  see  her  more  distinctly.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Holiday,  followed  by  Rollo,  advanced  arid  took 
their  places  on  a  sofa  before  one  of  the 
counters.  The  ladies  then  continued  their 
conversation,  apparently  taking  no  notice  of  the 
new  comers. 

One  of  the  ladies  was  holding  a  bracelet  in 
her  hand.  She  had  already  two  bracelets  on 
each  wrist,  and  ever  so  many  rings  on  her 
fingers,  besides  a  large  brooch  in  her  collar, 
and  a  double  gold  chain  to  her  watch,  with  a 
great  number  of  breloques  and  charms  at- 
tached to  it.  She  seemed  to  be  considering 
whether  she  should  buy  the  bracelet  that  she 
was  holding  in  her  hand  or  not. 

4 'It  certainly  is  a  beauty,"  said  she. 

"Yes,"  said  the  other;  "and  if  I  were  you, 
Almira,  I  would  take  it  without  hesitating  a 
moment.  You  can  afford  it  just  as  well  as 
not." 

"It  is  so  high!"  said  Almira,  doubtingly,  and 
holding  up  the  bracelet,  so  as  to  see  the  light 
reflected  from  the  surfaces  of  the  precious 
stones. 

"I  don't  think  it  is  high  at  all,"  said  her 
friend;  "that  is,  for  such  stones  and  sucji  set'4 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  161 

ting.  A  thousand  francs,  he  says,  and  that  is 
only  two  hundred  dollars.  That  is  nothing 
at  all  for  so  rich  a  husband  as  yours." 

"I  know,"  said  Almira;  "but  then  he  always 
makes  such  wry  faces  if  I  buy  anything  that 
costs  more  than  fifty  or  seventy-five  dollars." 

1 '  I  would  not  mind  his  wry  faces  at  all, ' '  said 
her  friend.  "He  does  not  mean  anything  by 
them.  Depend  upon  it,  he  is  as  proud  to  see 
you  wear  handsome  things  as  any  man,  after 
he  has  once  paid  for  them.  Then,  besides, 
perhaps  the  man  will  take  something  off  from 
the  thousand  francs. '  * 

* '  I  will  ask  him, ' '  said  Almira. 

So  she  called  the  shopman  to  her,  and  asked 
him  in  French  whether  he  could  not  take  eight 
hundred  francs  for  the  bracelet. 

She  accosted  him  in  French,  for  that  is  the 
language  of  Geneva ;  and  the  two  ladies  had 
talked  very  freely  to  each  other  in  English, 
supposing  that  neither  the  shopkeeper  nor  the 
new  party  of  customers  would  understand 
what  they  were  saying.  But  it  happened  that 
the  shopkeeper  himself,  as  well  as  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Holiday,  understood  English  very  well, 
and  thus  he  knew  the  meaning  of  all  that  the 
ladies  had  been  saying;  and  he  was  too  well 
acquainted  with  human  nature  not  to  know 
that  the  end  of  such  a  consultation  and  deliber- 
ation as  that  would  be  the  purchase  of  the 
bracelet,  and  was  therefore  not  at  all  disposed 
to  abate  the'  price. 

"No,  madam,"  said  he,  speaking  in  French, 
and  in  a  very  polite  and  obliging  manner;  "I 

11    Geneva 


162  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

cannot  vary  from  the  price  I  named  at  all.  We 
are  obliged  to  adopt  the  system  of  having  only 
one  price  here.  Besides,  that  bracelet  could 
not  possibly  be  afforded  for  less  than  a 
thousand  francs.  Earlier  in  the  season  we 
asked  twelve  hundred  francs  for  it;  and  I 
assure  you,  madam,  that  it  is  a  great  bargain 
at  a  thousand."  After  looking  at  the  bracelet 
a  little  longer,  and  holding  it  up  again  in 
different  lights,  and  hearing  her  friend's' solic- 
itations that  she  would  purchase  it  repeated 
in  various  forms,  Almira  finally  concluded  to 
take  it. 

It  may  seem,  at  first  view,  that  Almira's 
friend  evinced  a  great  deal  of  generosity  in 
urging  her  thus  to  buy  an  ornament  more  rich 
and  costly  than  she  could  hope  to  purchase  for 
herself;  but  her  secret  motive  was  not  a  gen- 
erous one  at  all.  She  wished  to  quote  Almira's 
example  to  her  own  husband,  as  a  justification 
for  her  having  bought  a  richer  piece  of  jewelry 
than  he  would  otherwise  have  approved  of. 

44 Mine  only  cost  eight  hundred  francs,"  she 
wTas  going  to  say;  "and  cousin  Almira  bought 
one  that  cost  a  thousand." 

In  this  wa}'  she  hoped  to  exhibit  to  her  hus- 
band that  which  he  might  otherwise  have  re- 
garded as  foolish  extravagance  in  the  light  of 
self-denial  and  prudent  economy. 

In  the  meantime,  while  Almira  and  her 
friend  had  been  making  their  purchases  at  the 
table,  another  shopman  had  been  displaying  a 
great  many  trays  to  Mrs.  Holiday  on  one  of 
the  counters.      The    ornaments  contained  in 


ROLLO  IN   GENEVA.  163 

these  trays  were  by  no  means  as  costly  as 
those  which  had  been  shown  to  the  two  ladies 
at  the  table ;  for  Mrs.  Holiday  had  said  to  the 
shopman,  as  she  came  in,  that  she  wished  to 
see  only  some  simple  pins  and  other  ornaments 
worth  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  francs.  They 
were,  however,  just  as  pretty  in  Mrs.  Holiday's 
opinion.  Indeed,  the  beauty  of  such  orna- 
ments as  these  seldom  has  any  relation  to  the 
costliness  of  them.  This,  however,  consti- 
tutes no  reason,  in  the  opinion  of  many  ladies, 
why  they  should  buy  the  less  expensive  ones ; 
for  with  these  ladies  it  is  the  costliness  of  an 
ornament,  rather  than  the  beauty  of  it,  that 
constitutes  its  charm. 

The  two  ladies  paid  for  their  purchases  with 
gold  coins  which  they  took  from  elegant  gold- 
mounted  porte-monnaies  that  they  carried  in 
their  hands,  and  then,  with  a  dash  and  a  flour- 
ish, went  away. 

Mrs.  Holiday  took  up  one  after  another  of 
the  ornaments  before  her,  and  looked  at  them 
with  a  musing  air  and  manner,  that  seemed  to 
denote  that  her  thoughts  were  not  upon  them. 

She  was  thinking  how  erroneous  an  estimate 
those  ladies  form  of  the  comparative  value  of 
the  different  sources  of  happiness  within  the 
reach  of  women  who  sacrifice  the  confidence 
and  love  of  their  husbands  to  the  possession  of 
a  pearl  necklace  or  a  diamond  pin. 

Mrs.  Holiday  finally  bought  two  ornaments, 
and  Rollo  bought  two  also.  Rollo's  were 
small  pins.  They  were  very  pretty  indeed. 
One  of  them  cost  twelve  francs,  and  the  other 


164  ROLLO  IN   GENEVA. 

fifteen.  His  mother  asked  him  whether  he 
was  going  to  wear  them  himself. 

"O  no,  mother,"  said  he;  "I  have  bought 
them  to  give  away. ' ' 

His  mother  then  asked  him  whom  he  was 
going  to  give  them  to.  He  laughed,  and  said 
that  that  was  a  secret.  He  would  tell  her, 
however,  he  said,  whom  one  of  them  was  for. 
It  was  for  his  cousin  Lucy. 

44 And  which  of  them  is  for  her?"  asked  his 
mother. 

"This  one,"  said  Rollo.  So  saying  he 
showed  his  mother  the  one  that  cost  twelve 
francs. 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  165 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

A  FORTUNATE  ACCIDENT. 

The  day  before  Rollo  left  Geneva,  he  met 
with  an  accident  which  his  father  called  a  for- 
tunate one,  though  Rollo  himself  was  at  first 
inclined  to  consider  it  quite  an  unfortunate 
one.  The  reason  why  Mr.  Holiday  considered 
it  fortunate  was,  that  no  evil  result  followed 
from  it,  except  giving  Rollo  a  good  fright. 
4iIt  is  always  a  lucky  thing  for  a  boy,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday,  "when  he  meets  with  any  acci- 
dent that  frightens  him  well,  provided  it  does 
not  hurt  him  much." 

The  accident  that  happened  to  Rollo  was 
this :  There  was  a  boy  at  the  hotel,  who  had 
recently  come  with  his  father  and  mother  from 
India.  He  was  the  son  of  an  English  army 
officer.  His  name  was  Gerald.  He  was  a  tall 
and  handsome  boy,  and  was  about  a  year  older 
than  Rollo. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  before  the  party 
were  to  leave  Geneva,  Rollo  came  in  from  the 
quay,  where  he  had  been  out  to  take  a  walk, 
and  asked  permission  to  go  out  on  the  lake,  a 
little  way,  in  a  boat,  with  Gerald. 

"Does  Gerald  understand  how  to  manage  a 
boat?"  asked  Mr.  Holiday. 

"O,  yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo.     "He  has  been  all 


166  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

over  the  world,  and  he  knows  how  to  manage 
everything.  Besides,  I  can  manage  a  boat 
myself  well  enough  to  go  out  on  this  lake.  It 
is  as  smooth  as  a  mill  pond. " 

44 Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Holiday.  "Only  it 
must  not  be  a  sail  boat.  You  must  take  oars; 
and  look  out  well  that  the  Rhone  does  not 
catch  you. ' ' 

Rollo  understood  very  well  that  his  father 
meant  by  this  that  he  must  be  careful  not  to 
let  the  current,  which  was  all  the  time  drawing 
the  water  of  the  lake  off  under  the  bridge, 
and  thus  forming  the  Rhone  below,  carry  'the 
boat  down.  Rollo  said  that  he  would  be  very 
careful;  and  off  he  went  to  rejoin  Gerald  on 
the  quay. 

Gerald  was  already  in  the  boat.  He  had 
with  him,  also,  a  Swiss  boy,  whom  he  had 
engaged  to  go,  too,  as  a  sort  of  attendant,  and 
to  help  row,  if  necessary.  An  English  boy,  in 
such  cases,  never  considers  the  party  complete 
unless  he  has  some  one  to  occupy  the  place  of 
a  servant,  and  to  be  under  his  command. 

So  the  three  boys  got  into  the  boat,  and 
pushed  off  from  the  shore.  For  a  time  every- 
thing went  on  well  and  pleasantly.  Rollo  and 
the  others  had  a  fine  time  in  rowing  to  and 
fro  over  the  smooth  water,  from  one  beautiful 
point  of  land  to  another,  on  the  lake  shores, 
and  sometimes  in  lying  still  on  the  calm  sur- 
face, to  rest  from  the  labor,  and  to  amuse  them- 
selves in  looking  down  in  the  beautiful  blue 
depths  beneath  them,  and  watching  the  fishes 
that  were  swimming  about  there.     At  last,  in 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  167 

the  course  of  their  manoeuvrings,  they  hap- 
pened to  take  the  boat  rather  too  near  the 
bridge.  The  attention  of  the  boys  was  at  the 
time  directed  to  something  that  they  saw  in 
the  water;  and  they  did  not  perceive  how  near 
the  bridge  they  were  unfril  Rollo  happened  to 
observe  that  the  stones  at  the  bottom  seemed 
to  be  rapidly  moving  along  in  the  direction 
toward  the  lake. 

"My!"  said  Rollo;  "see  how  fast  the  stones 
are  going!" 

"The  stones !"  exclaimed  Gerald,  starting 
ue,  and  seizing  an  oar.  "It's  the  boat!  We 
are  going  under  the  bridge,  as  sure  as  fate ! 
Put  out  your  oar,  Rollo,  and  pull  for  your  life ! 
Pull!" 

Both  Rollo  and  the  Swiss  boy  immediately 
put  out  their  oars  and  pulled ;  but  Gerald  soon 
found  that  the  current  was  too  strong  for  them. 
In  spite  of  all  they  could  do,  the  boat  was  evi- 
dently slowly  drifting  toward  the  bridge. 

"It  is  of  no  use,"  said  Gerald,  at  last.  "We 
shall  have  to  go  through ;  but  that  will  do  no 
harm  if  we  can  only  manage  to  keep  her  from 
striking  the  piers.  Take  in  your  oars,  boys, 
and  let  me  pull  her  round  so  as  to  head  down 
stream,  and  you  stand  ready  to  fend  off  when 
we  are  going  under. ' ' 

The  excitement  of  this  scene  was  very  great, 
and  Rollo 's  first  impulse  was  to  scream  for 
help;  but  observing  how  cool  and  collected 
Gerald  appeared,  he  felt  somewhat  reassured, 
and  at  once  obeyed  Gerald's  orders.  He  took 
in  his  oar,  and  holding  it  in  his  hands,  as  if  it 


168  ROLLO   IN   GENEVA. 

had  been  a  boat  hook  or  a  setting  pole,  he  pre- 
pared to  fend  off  from  the  piers  when  the  boat 
went  through.  In  the  meantime  Gerald  had 
succeeded  in  getting  the  boat  round,  so  as  to 
point  the  bows  down  stream,  just  as  she 
reached  the  bridge;  and  in  this  position  she 
shot  under  it  like  an  arrow.  Several  boys  who 
were  standing  on  the  bridge  at  this  time,  after 
watching  at  the  upper  side  till  the  boat  went 
under,  ran  across  to  the  lower  side,  to  see  her 
come  out. 

The  boat  passed  through  the  bridge  safely, 
though  the  stern  struck  against  the  pier  on  one 
side,  just  as  it  was  emerging.  The  reason  of 
this  was,  that  Gerald,  in  bringing  it  round  so 
as  to  head  down  the  stream,  had  given  it  a 
rotating  motion,  which  continued  while  it  was 
passing  under  the  bridge,  and  thus  brought 
the  stern  round  against  the  pier.  No  harm  was 
done,  however,  except  that  the  boat  received 
a  rather  rude  concussion  by  the  blow. 

"Now,  boys,"  said  Gerald,  speaking  in 
French,  "we  must  keep  her  head  and  stern  up 
and  down  the  stream,  or  we  shall  make  ship- 
wreck." 

"Yes,"  said  Rollo,  in  English;  "if  we  should 
strike  a  snag  or  anything,  broadside  on,  the 
boat  would  roll  right  over. '  * 

"A  snag!"  repeated  Gerald,  contemptuously. 
The  idea  was  indeed  absurd  of  finding  a  snag  in 
the  River  Rhone ;  for  a  snag  is  formed  by  a 
floating  tree,  which  is  washed  into  the  river  b57 
the  undermining  of  the  banks,  and  is  then  car- 
ried down  until  it  gets  lodged.     There  are  mil- 


ROLLO   IN   GENEVA.  169 

lions  of  such  trees  in  the  Mississippi,  but  none 
in  the  Rhone. 

However,  Rollo  was  right  in  his  general  idea. 
There  might  be  obstructions  of  some  sort  in 
the  river,  which  it  would  be  dangerous  for  the 
boat  to  encounter  broadside  on ;  so  he  took  hold 
resolutely  of  the  work  of  helping  Gerald  bring* 
it  into  a  position  parallel  with  the  direction  of 
the  stream.  In  the  meantime  the  boat  was 
swept  down  the  torrent  with  fearful  rapidity. 
It  glided  swiftly  on  amid  boiling  whirlpools  and 
sheets  of  rippling  foam,  that  were  quite  fright- 
ful to  see.  The  buildings  of  the  town  here  bor- 
dered the  banks  of  the  river  on  each  side,  and 
there  were  little  jutting  piers  and  platforms 
here  and  there,  with  boys  upon  them  in  some 
places,  fishing,  and  women  washing  clothes  in 
others.  The  boys  in  the  boat  did  not  call  for 
help,  and  so  nobody  attempted  to  come  and 
help  them.  Gerald's  plan  was  to  keep  the  boat 
headed  right,  and  so  let  her  drift  on  until  she 
had  passed  through  the  town,  in  hopes  of  being 
able  to  bring  her  up  somewhere  on  the  shore 
below. 

At  one  time  the  force  of  the  current  carried 
them  quite  near  to  the  shore,  at  a  place  where 
Gerald  thought  it  would  be  dangerous  to 
attempt  to  land,  and  he  called  out  aloud  to  Rollo 
to  "fend  off."  Rollo  attempted  to  do  so,  and 
in  the  attempt  he  lost  his  oar.  He  was  stand- 
ing near  the  bows  at  the  time,  and  as  he 
planted  his  oar  against  the  bottom,  the  current 
carried  the  boat  on  with  such  irresistible 
impetuosity  that  the  oar  was  wrested  from  his 


170  ROLLO  IN   GENEVA. 

hand  in  an  instant.  If  he  had  not  let  go  of  it 
he  would  have  been  pulled  over  himself. 
Gerald,  however,  had  the  presence  of  mind  to 
reach  out  his  own  oar  at  once,  and  draw  the 
lost  one  back  toward  the  boat,  so  that  the 
Swiss  boy  seized  it,  and  to  Rollo's  great  joy, 
took  it  in  again. 

The  boat  at  one  time  came  very  near  drifting 
against  one  of  the  great  water  wheels  which 
were  revolving  in  the  stream.  Gerald  perceived 
the  danger  just  in  time,  and  he  contrived  to  turn 
the  head  of  the  boat  out  toward  the  center  of 
the  river,  and  then  commanding  Rollo  and  the 
Swiss  boy  to  row,  and  pulling,  himself,  with  all 
his  force,  he  just  succeeded  in  escaping  the 
danger. 

By  this  time  the  boat  had  passed  by  the  town, 
and  it  now  came  to  a  part  of  the  river  which 
was  bordered  by  smooth,  grassy  banks  on  each 
side,  and  with  a  row  of  willows  growing  near 
the  margin  of  the  water.  This  was  the  place, 
in  fact,  where  Rollo  had  walked  along  the  shore 
with  his  mother,  in  going  down  to  visit  the 
junction  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Arve. 

"Now,"  said  Gerald,  "here  is  a  chance  for 
us  to  make  a  landing.  I'll  head  her  in  toward 
the  shore." 

So  Gerald  turned  the  head  of  the  boat  in 
toward  the'  bank,  and  then,  by  dint  of  hard 
rowing,  the  boys  contrived  gradually  to  draw 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  shore,  though  they 
were  all  the  time  drifting  rapidly  down.  At 
last  the  boat  came  so  near  that  the  lx>w  was  just 
ready  to  touch  the  bank,  and  then  Gerald  seized 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  171 

the  painter,  and,  watching  his  opportunity, 
leaped  ashore,  and,  running  to  the  nearest  wil- 
low, wound  the  painter  round  it.  This  at  once 
checked  the  motion  of  the  bow,  and  caused  the 
stern  to  swing  round.  Gerald  immediately 
unwound  the  painter,  and  ran  to  the  willow 
next  below,  where  he  wound  it  round  again, 
and  there  succeeded  at  last  in  making  it  fast, 
and  stopping  the  motion  of  the  boat  altogether. 
Rollo  and  the  Swiss  boy  then  made  their  escape 
safe  to  land. 

44 There!"  said  Rollo,  taking  at  the  same 
time  a  high  jump,  to  express  his  exultation; 
"there!      Here  we  are  safe,  and  who  cares?" 

Ah!"  said  Gerald,  calmly;  "it  is  very  easy  to 
say  who  cares  now  that  we  have  got  safe  to  land ; 
but  you'll  find  me  looking  out  sharp  not  to  get 
sucked  into  those  ripples  again." 

So  the  boys  went  home.  Gerald  found  a  man 
to  go  down  and  bring  back  the  boat,  while  Rollo 
proceeded  to  the  hotel,  to  report  the  affair  to 
his  father  and  mother.  Mrs.  Holiday  was  very 
much  alarmed,  but  Mr.  Holiday  seemed  to  take 
the  matter  quite  coolly.  He  said  he  thought 
that  Rollo  was  now,  for  all  the  rest  of  his  life, 
in  much  less  danger  of  being  drowned  by  get- 
ting carried  down  rapids  in  a  river  than  he 
was  before. 

"He  understands  the  subject  now  somewhat 
practically,"  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

The  term  of  Mr.  Holiday's  visit  had  now 
expired,  and  the  arrangements  were  to  be 
made  for  leaving  town,  with  a  view  of  return- 
ing again  to  Paris.      Rollo,  however,  was  very 


172  ROLLO  IN  GENEVA. 

desirous  that  before  going  back  to  Paris  they 
should  make  at  least  a  short  excursion  among 
the  mountains. 

"Where  shall  we  go?"  said  his  father. 

"To  the  valley  of  Chamouni, "  said  Rollo. 
"They  say  that  that  is  the  prettiest  place  in  all 
Switzerland." 

"How  long  will  it  take  us  to  go?"  asked  Mr. 
Holiday. 

"We  can  go  in  a  day,"  said  Rollo.  "There 
are  plenty  of  diligences.  The  officers  of  them 
are  here  all  along  the  quay." 

"Or,  if  you  don't  choose  to  go  so  far  in  a 
day,"  continued  Rollo,  "you  can  go  in  half  a 
day  to  the  entrance  of  the  valley,  where  there 
is  a  good  place  to  stop,  and  then  we  can  go  to 
Chamouni  the  next  day.  I  have  studied  it  all 
out  in  the  guide  book. ' ' 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Holiday.  "It  seems 
that  we  can  get  into  the  valley  of  Chamouni 
very  easily;  and  now  how  is  it  about  getting 
out?" 

At  this  question  Rollo's  countenance  fell  a 
little,  and  he  replied  that  it  was  not  so  easy  to 
get  out 

"There  is  no  way  to  get  out,"  said  he, 
"except  to  go  over  the  mountains,  unless  we 
come  back  the  same  way  we  go  in." 

"That  would  not  be  quite  so  pleasant,"  said 
Mr.  Holiday. 

"No,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "it  would  be  better 
to  go  out  some  new  way.  But  there  is  not  any 
way.  It  is  a  long,  narrow  valley,  very  high 
up  among  the  mountain  glaciers.      There  is  a 


ROLLO  IN  GENEVA.  173 

way  to  get  out  at  the  tipper  end,  but  it  is  only 
a  mountain  pass,  and  we  should  have  to  ride 
over  on  mules.  But  you  could  ride  on  a  mule 
— could  not  you,  father?" 

4 'Why,  yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "perhaps  I 
could ;  but  it  might  be  too  fatiguing  for  your 
mother.  She  has  not  veen  accustomed  to  ride 
on  horseback  much  of  late  years. 

"Besides,"  he  continued,  "I  suppose  that  as 
it  is  a  mountain  pass,  the  road  must  be  pretty 
steep  and  difficult." 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "it  is  steep  some 
part  of  the  way.  You  have  to  go  up  for  half  an 
hour  by  zigzags — right  up  the  side  of  the 
mountain.  I  read  about  it  in  the  guide  book. 
Then,  after  we  get  up  to  the  top  of  the  pass, 
we  have  a  monstrous  long  way  to  go  down. 
We  have  to  go  down  for  two  hours,  as  steep  as 
we  can  go." 

"I  should  think  we  should  have  to  go  up  as 
much  as  down,"  said  Mr.  Holiday;  "for  it  is 
necessary  to  ascend  as  much  to  get  to  the  top 
of  any  hill  from  the  bottom  as  you  descend  in 
going  down  to  the  bottom  from  the  top." 

"Ah,  but  in  Chamouni,"  said  Rollo,  "we  are 
very  near  the  top  already.  It  is  a  valley,  it  is 
true ;  but  it  is  up  very  high  among  the  moun- 
tains, and  is  surrounded  with  snow  and  glaciers. 
That  is  what  makes  it  so  interesting  to  go 
there.  Besides,  we  can  see  the  top  of  Mont 
Blanc  there,  and  with  a  spy  glass  we  can  watch 
the  people  going  up,  as  they  walk  along  over 
the  fields  of  snow." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "I  should  like  to 


174  ROLLO   IN  GENEVA. 

go  there  very  well,  if  your  mother  consents; 
and  then,  if  she  does  not  feel  adventurous 
enough  to  go  over  the  mountain  pass  on  a  mule, 
we  can,  at  all  events,  come  back  the  same  way 
we  go." 

44 Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "and,  besides, 
father,"  he  continued,  eagerly,  44 there  is 
another  way  that  we  can  do.  Mother  can  go 
over  the  mountain  pass  on  a  carrying  chair. 
They  have  carrying  chairs  there,  expressly  to 
carry  ladies  over  the  passes.  They  are  good, 
comfortable  chairs,  with  poles  each  side  of 
them,  fastened  very  strong.  The  lady  sits  in 
the  chair,  and  then  two  men  take  hold  of  the 
poles,  one  before  and  the  other  behind,  and  so 
they  carry  her  over  the  mountains. ' ' 

"I  should  think  that  would  be  very  easy  and 
very  comfortable,"  said  Mr.  Holiday.  "Go 
and  find  your  mother,  and  explain  it  all  to  her, 
and  hear  what  she  says.  Tell  her  what  sort  of 
a  place  Chamouni  is,  and  what  there  is  to  be 
seen  there,  and  then  tell  her  of  the  different 
ways  there  will  be  of  getting  out  when  once 
we  get  in.     If  she  would  like  it  we  will  go." 

Mrs.  Holiday  did  like  the  plan  of  going  to 
Chamouni  very  much.  She  said  she  thought 
that  she  would  go  over  the  mountain  pass  on  a 
mule ;  and  that  at  any  rate  she  could  go  on  the 
carrying  chair.  So  the  excursion  was  decided 
upon,  and  the  party  set  off  the  next  day. 

And  here  I  must  end  the  story  of  Rollo  at 
Geneva,  only  adding  that  it  proved  in  the  end 
that  the  fifteen  franc  pin  which  Rollo  bought, 


ROLLO   IN  GENEVA.  175 

and  the  destination  of  which  he  made  a  secret 
of,  was  intended  for  his  mother.  He  kept  the 
pin  in  his  trunk  until  he  returned  to  America, 
and  then  sent  it  into  his  mother's  room,  with  a 
little  note,  one  morning  when  she  was  there 
alone.  His  mother  kept  the  pin  a  great  many 
years,  and  wore  it  a  great  many  times ;  and  she 
said  she  valued  it  more  than  any  other  ornament 
she  had,  though  she  had  several  in  her  little 
strong  box  that  had  cost  in  money  fifty  times 
as  much. 

THE   END. 


W.  B.  GONKEY  COPJIPAKY'S  PUBLICATIONS 


1.  Abb6  Constantin Halevy 

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Carroll 

5.  An  Attic  Philosopher  in  Paris 

Souvestre 

6.  Autobiography  of  Benjamin 

Franklin 

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'    Holmes 

11.  Bacon's  Essays Bacon 

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Maclaren 

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24.  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage 

Byron 

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30.  Daily  Food  for  Christians 

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Erummond 

37.  Emerson's  Essays,  Vol.  1 
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Emerson 

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40.  Evangeline Longfellow 

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49.  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship,  Carlyle 

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104.  Prue  and  I Curtis 

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110.  Rdb  aDd  His  Friends.  ..Brown 

111.  Representative  Men.  .Emerson 

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118.  Koilo  in  NaDles Abbott 

117.  Rotloin  Paris Abbott 

118.  Roilo  in  Rome Abbott 

119.  Rollo  in  Scotland Abbott 

120.  Rollo  in  Switzerland. .  .Abbott 

121.  Rollo  on  the  Atlantic.  ..Abbott 

122.  Rollo  on  the  Rhine Abbott 

123.  Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Khayyam 

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129.  Scmrlet  Letter Hawthorne 

130    Sesame  and  Lilies Raskin 

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144.  Through  the  Looking  Glass 

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150.  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin Stowe 

154.  Vicar  of  Wakefield..Goldsmith 

158.  Whittier's  Poems Whittier 

159.  Wide,  Wide  World  . . .  .Warner 

160.  Window  in  Thrums Barrie 

161.  Wonder  Book Hawthorne 


